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aX^VTlCII 17tli, 1870, 



CELEB K A T I O N 



O ]• T H E 



CENTENNIAL ANNIYERSARY 



O F T II E 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON 



n T THE 



B R I T I S PI ARMY, 

]M^^\JRCII irth, 1776. 



RECEPTION OF THE WASHINGTON MEDAL. 



ORATION DE LIVE It ED IN MUSIC UALL, 

AND A 

CnRONlCI.E OF THE SIEGK OK BOSTON. 
BY GEOEGE K. ELLIS. 




^'i s 1 11 : 
A. AVILLIAMS & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 

2 8 3 Washington Street. 
1 8 7 G. 






JO r t s e of 

ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL. CITY PRINTERS, 



CITY OF BOSTON. 



In Board of ALUEttMEN, March 20, 1876. 

liesolvcd, That the thanks of the City Council are due, and they are hereby 
tendered, to George E. Ellis, D. D., for the very interesting historical 
oration delivered before the municipal authorities of this city on the 17th 
inst., that being the Centennial Anniversary of the Evacuation of the town 
of Boston by the British Army ; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of 
said oration for publication, together with such historical facts connected with 
the Siege of Boston as may be deemed worthy of preservation. 

Ordered. That fifteen hundred copies of the oration of George E. Ellis, D.D., 
delivered before the municipal authorities of this city on the 17th inst., be 
printed, together with an account of the proceedings connected with the 
observance of the Centennial Anniversary of the Evacuation of Boston by the 
British Army ; and that the expense thereof be charged to the appropriation 
for Printing. 

Passed; sent down for concurrence. 

JOIIK T. CLAPtK, Chairman. 



Passed in concurrence. 
Approved March 24, 187G. 



In Common Council, March 23, 1876. 
J. Q. A. BPvACKETT, PreHdct. 

SAMUEL C. COBB, Mayor. 









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CONTENTS 



Preliminary Arrangements . 

Decorations 

Illuminations 

Reception of the Washington Medal 
-Services in Music Hall 

Prav^r by Rev. Dr. Manning, Pastor of Old South 

Introductory liemarks of Mayor Cobb 

Address by George E. Ellis, D.D. . 
Chronicle of the Siege (By George E. Ellis, D. D.) 

The Provincial Forces Summoned . 

Commencement of the Siege of Boston 

The Poor in Boston .... 

General Burgoyne on the Situation . 

Intercourse between Town and Country 

Covenant between General Gage and the 

Proclamation by General Gage 

" Tlie Friends of Government" 

Tories in Town and Country . 

Lady Frankland 

Benjamin Tliomiison, Count Kuinibrd 

Fire in Boston .... 

Care for a Civil GoverniiKnt . 

Harvard College and Cambridge 

The Provincial Fortifications . 

Raids on the Harbor Islands . 

Incidents in the Provincial Camp 

Correspondence of Generals Lee and Burgoyne 

A Preliminary to the Declaration of Independence 

Dr. Benj. Church charged with Treachery 

A Visitor to the Camp .... 

A Characteristic Order by Washington 

Winter in the Camp .... 

Treatment of Prisoners .... 



PAGE 
9 

12 
20 
23 
33 
3+ 
36 
39 

100 
110 
112 
112 
111 
115 
119 
123 
12+ 
12(; 
129 
130 
131 
133 
138 
142 
145 
14G 
149 
151 

l.Tl 

l.-i.-J 
I.U 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chronicle of the Siege — Continued. 

Burgoyne on the Situation in Boston . 158 

Destruction of " Liberty-Tree " 160 

Tlie Besieged in Boston 164 

Commission by General Gage 164 

Crean Brusli 165 

Printing in Boston 166 

Proclamations by General Gage 167 

Burgoyne's Tliciitricals in Boston 168 

General Howe in Command in Boston 170 

Proclamations by General Howe 170 

The Contract for the Evacuation and Safety of Boston .... 173 

The Leave-Taking and Embarkation 175 

Boston Harbor Reopened 180 

Report of the Evacuation in England 180 

Diaries and Letters in Boston during the Siege 182 

Diary of Ezekiel Price 184 

Letters to Gardiner Greene 187 

Dr. Andrew Eliot 188 

Diary of Timotliy Newell 192 

The Boston Ministers during the Siege . 198 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Pelham's Map of Boston. 

Province House 1 

Old State House 15 

Long Wharf 18 

' 'Washington Medal 25 

Hancock House 99 

Panedil Hall 115 

■ Vicinitt of Boston, Ports 138 

Prospect Hill and Bunker Hill — Flv Leaf 139 

Theatrical Programme 169 

[The Engravings of the Washington Mcilnl, and of the Fcirlificntions around Koston, were pre- 
pared for Dr. Spnrks' Life and Writings of Washington. Mrs Sparks has kindly granted the use 
of the plates for this volume ] 



PEELIMINAEY AEEMGEMENTS. 



DECOEATIONS AND ILLUMINATIONS. 



PRELIMINARY AERANGEMENTS. 



In his luaugural Address to the Cit}' Council of Boston, on the 
3d of Januar}'', 187G, the Ma^-or, Hon. Samuel C. Cobb, referred 
to the Centennial Anniversaries of the last and the present j'ear iu 
the following words : — 

" Iu June last we had our ceutcnuial celebration of the 
Auuiversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. I believe it is 
regarded on all hands as a gratifying success. It was 
a memorable day for Boston, as being the first public 
occasion on which the antagonists in the fields and the 
councils of the ci^dl war met together in considerable 
niuubers and in organized bodies, to exchange pledges of 
renewed amity and fraternal fellowshij) and of a future 
cordial co-operation in the duties of patriotism. It ajj- 
peared to awaken the hospitable feelings and the patriotic 
ardors of our own people, and we have had many testi- 
monies that om" welcome visitors from all sections of the 
country were jileased with their reception and entertain- 
ment. This year Philadelphia will be the seat of a more 
unposing observance, in celebration of the Centennial 
Auniversaiy of the Declaration of the ISTational Independ- 
ence. Our Avarmest sympathies will be with her on this 
grand occasion of national and international interest. 
Under the auspices of the State Conmiission, our people 
will contribute to the exposition the products of their 



10 CENTENIs^IAL AXKIVEESART OF THE 

industry and art, and, I presiune, a large personal repre- 
sentation. 

" It does not apj^ear at present that any formal action 
on the subject is called for on the part of this municipal 
government. 

"On the SeAcnteenth of March next Avill occur the 
centennial anniversary of the Evacuation of Boston by the 
British troops. The City Council Avill consider what 
observance of the day, if any, will be appropriate in itself 
and acceptable to the people. And on the Fourth of July 
I presiune the City Govermnent will not omit the celebra- 
tion to which the people have been accustomed from the 
earliest times." 

At the meeting of the Board of xildermeii, Januaiy (Jth, 1876, 
the following order was adopted : — 

Ordered, That the Chairman and four members of the Board of 
Aldermen, with such as the Common Council maj' join, be a committee 
to consider and report in what way it will be expedient to celebrate, on 
the Seventeenth of March next, the Centennial anniversary of theEvacu- 
tion of Boston bj' the British armj-, and on the Fourth of July next, the 
Centennial anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence. 

Aud Aldermen John T. Clark, Chairman, Alvah A. Burrage, 
Hugh O'Brien, Choate Buruham, and Francis Thompson, were 
appointed as such committee. 

At the meeting of the Common Council, January 13, the order 
was passed in concurrence, and Councilmeu J. Q. A. Brackett, 
President, Curtis Guild, Edwin Sibley, John Sweetser, William 
G. Train, Otis H. Pierce, Frederick G. Walljridge, aud William 
Blanchard were joined. 

The order was approved by the Mayor, January 15, 1876. 

On the 17th of January the committee reported in pait, rcc- 



EYACUATIOX OF BOSTON^. 11 

omraending that the Mayor and the Chairman of the Board of 
Aldcrineii be authorized to engage an orator for the Seventcentli 
of March, and an order to that effect was passed hy the City 
Council. 

On the 24th of January, the committee again reported, recom- 
mending that, in addition to the oration ah'ead\^ provided for, the 
Seventeenth of March be observed as follows : — 

By firing salutes at sunrise and sunset, and bj- ringing the church 
bells at sunrise, noon, and sunset ; that the occupants of the stoi'es and 
dwellings on 'Washington street be requested to decorate their buildings ; 
that the locations of the fortifications on Boston Neck, and other places 
of historic interest in the city, be decorated ; that Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment, Dorchester Heights, and the principal public buildings, be illu- 
minated ; and that the General Government be requested to fire salutes 
from the Nav}' Yard and the forts in the harbor ; and tliat the State 
authorities be requested to illuminate the State-House. Citizens resi- 
dent on tlie principal squares and thoroughfares were requested to 
illuminate their dwellings on tlie evening of the Seventeenth. 

The committee appended to their report the following order, 
which was adopted by the City Council, and approved by the 
Maj^or on the 5th of February : — 

Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee who were appointed to 
consider and report in what way the centennial anniversary of the evac- 
uation of Boston b}' the British army should be celebrated, be author- 
ized to m.ake arrangements for the proper celebration of that occasion, 
at an expense not exceeding five thousand dollars, to be charged to the 
appropriation for Incidentals. 

Ill accordance with the order passed l\v the Citj' Council, his 
Honor the Maj'or invited George E. Ellis, D. D., to deliver the 
oration, and the Reverend Jacob JI. Manning, D. D., to act as 
chaplain, on the occasion, and both gentlemen accepted the 
invitation. 



12 CENTEN^riAL a:nts[iveesart of the 



DECOEATIONS. 



The season of the year being unfavorable for out-door decora- 
tions, the sub-committee haA'ing the matter in charge, deemed it 
advisable to designate such ]Dlaces only as were situated upon the 
lines of march of the advancing and retreating armies, beginning 
at the advanced line of the American fortifications in Roxbury, 
and terminating at the point of embarkation of the British troops 
on Long Wharf. 

The following places were thus designated : — 

AMERICAN FORTIFICATIONS. 

The origin.il line of American fortifications crossed what is now 
Washington street on the line of division between Boston and Roxburj-, 
near the present Clifton place. On the 23d of August, 1775, the work 
of fortifj-ing Lamb's Dam was begun, and upon the completion of that 
work the line of fortification was advanced to a point a little south of 
the present Northampton street. 

Lamb's Dam extended from about the junction of Hampden and Al- 
banj' streets to a point near the present Walnut place. It was orig- 
in.allj' built to keep the tide from overflowing the marshes, and followed 
very nearly the present line of Northampton street, diverging slightly 
to the southward as it neared the highway. At the termination of the 
Dam, on the upland, a strong breastwork was constructed, and from that 
the intrenchments extended across the highway. 

The works were completed September 10, 1775, without opposition 
from the British, although within musket-shot of their advanced posts. 

LOCATION OF BROWN'S HOUSE. 
The house and barn of Mr. Brown stood on the west side of the high- 
way, near the present location of Franklin square, and about twenty 
rods in adv.nnce of the British line. 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 13 

The buildings were occupied bj- the British troops, and served as a 
post from which to anno}- the Americans. 

. Ou the 8th of July, 1775, a party of volunteers from the American 
array, under command of Majors Tupper and Crane, attacked the post, 
drove in the guard, and set fire to the buildings. 

This was the only armed conflict between the opposing armies which 
took place within the original limits of Boston. 

It was at Brown's house that General Biirgoyne proposed to meet 
General Lee, to discuss the diflerences existing between the colonies and 
the mother-countrj'. 

BRITISH FORTIFICATIONS ON THE NECK. 

The main line of the British fortifications crossed the Neck between 
Dedham and Canton streets. The works were considered very strong, 
mounting twentj- guns of heavj' calibre, together with six howitzers and 
a mortar battery. 

The road passed directly through the centre of the work and was 
closed by gates. 

The fortification nearest the town was known as the " Green Store 
Battery," and was situated just south of the present Williams Market. 
Its name was taken from the warehouse of Deacon Brown, wliich stood 
on the site of Williams Market, and was painted green. 

A baiTier was erected at this point, prior to 1640, as a protection 
against the Indians, and, in 1710, bj' vote of the town, a strong work 
was constructed there. In September, 1774, General Gage caused the 
remains of the old works to be strengthened. The road passed through 
the centre of the works, and was closed hy a gate and a drawbridge. 

A person who entered tiie town soon after it was evacuated, describing 
these fortifications, says, " We found the works upon the Neck entire, 
the cannon spiked up, the shells chiefly split, and manj- of the cannon 
carriages cut to pieces ; these lines upon the Neck were handsomely 
built, and so amazingly strong that it would have been impracticable for 
us to have forced them." 

The works were, bj- Washington's order, rendered useless after the 
continental army moved to New York, so that the enemy could not 
make them available in case thev should regain the town. 



14 CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSAET OF THE 



LIBERTY-TREE BUILDING. 

The Liberty-tree, so named from its being used on tlie first occasion of 
public resistance to tlie Stamp Act, stood near the present corner of 
Esses and Washington streets. It was one of a number of magnificent 
elms which grew in that locality. 

On the 14th of August, 1765, an effigy of Mr. Oliver, the stamp of- 
ficer, together with a boot with a devil peeping out of it, — an allusion 
to Lord Bute, — were discovered hanging on the tree, and soon after the 
same Mr. Oliver, much against his will, was compelled to meet the Sons 
of Liberty- at the tree, and make a public recantation of his sentiments in 
favor of the Stamp Act. In November, 17G5, two of the king's advisers 
were hung in effigy upon the tree. 

From 1765 until the British troops took possession of the town, the 
tree was famous as the place of meeting of the Sons of Liberty, and the 
ground around it was popularly known as Libert}' Hall. In 1767 a flag- 
stafi" was erected, which extended through and above the branches of the 
tree, and a flag displaj'ed from this staif was a signal for the assembling 
of the Sons of Libertj\ Under the branches of the tree mattei's of 
public concern were discussed during the stirring times which preceded 
the actual commencement of hostilities, and manj' of the prominent 
actors in the revolution ar}- conflict took a lively part in the 
proceedings. 

The tree was cut down in August, 1775, by the Tories and the 
British troops, much to the vexation of the patriots who remained in the 
town during the siege. While the tree was being cut down, a soldier, in 
attempting to remove a limb, fell and was killed. 

Alluding to the event, the " Essex Gazette," of August 31st, 1775, 
says, " Armed with axes, thej- made a furious attack upon it. After a 
long spell of laughing and grinning, sweating, swearing, and foaming, 
with malice diabolical, they cut down a tree because it bore the name of 
liberty." 

A freestone bas-relief, set in the front of the building on the corner 
of Essex and Washington streets, marks the spot where the tree stood. 



EVACUATION OF BOSTOX. 15 



THE OLD SOUTH CHUECH. 

The present buikling was erected in 1729 ; when built it was situated 
in what was then considered the south part of the town, and was known 
as the South Meeting-house. The name " Old South" was given it after 
the erection of the '"New South" in Summer street. The building is 
especiallj' rich in historic associations. Here the orations on the anni- 
versaries of the Boston Massacre were delivered, and its walls resounded 
with the eloquence of many who afterwards exemplified their patriotism 
bj- deeds as w^ell as words. Here was held the meeting which culminated 
in the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor. The meeting was 
adjourned from Faneuil Hall, that building not being large enough to 
contain the crowd. The Old South Church was looked upon with 
especial disfavor b}^ the British, on account of the meetings of the patri- 
ots which were held there, and in 1775 it was taken possession of, at 
the instance of General Burgoyne, and converted into a riding-school 
for the use of the Queen's Light Dragoons. 

The east galleries were allotted to spectators, and a refreshment-room 
was fitted up in the first gallerj^ ; the pulpit and pews were removed and 
used for fuel, and the floor was covered with dirt and gravel. 

After the town was evacuated bj- the British the Old South Society 
worshipped in King's Chapel, which had been abandoned by its rector 
and congregation. 

THE OLD STATE-HOUSE. 

The present building was erected in 1748 for a town-bouse. The 
meetings of the Colonial Courts, the Provincial Council, and the General 
Court of the Colony were held in it. The representatives met in a 
chamber situated at the west end of the building, and here, according to 
John Adams, " Independence was born." 

The news of the accession of George III., the last crowned head pro- 
claimed in the colonies, was read from the balcon}-, and on the 18th of 
July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read from the same 
place, by the Sheriff, William Greenleaf. 

When the British troops were quartered in the town, it was used as a 
barrack, and in it Generals Gage, Howe, and Clinton held a Council of 
War, before the Battle of Bunker Hill. 



16 CENTEJfiSriAL AKNIVERSARY OF THE 

In 178D ;i toinpoiar}- balcony was erected at the west end oC the bnihl- 
ing, from which General "Washington reviewed the procession whicli had 
escorted him into the town. 

After the organization of the State Government, the General Conrt 
met there until the completion of the present State-House, in 1798. 
The convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States began 
its sessions there, and in it the Constitution of Massachusetts was 
framed. 

In 1830 the building was dedicated as a Cit}- Ilall, and continued to be 
occupied for that purpose until the Court House, which stood on the site 
of the present Cit^' Hall, was remodelled, and the Cit^^ Government re- 
moved there. In 1838 the post-office was located there, at which time a 
force of fit'tcen clerks was sufficient to transact the business of the depart- 
ment. 

FANEUIL HALL. 

The hall erected and presented to the town by Peter Faneuil was 
completed in 1742, and at a town meeting on the 13th of September 
of that year, the building was accepted, and a vote of thanks passed to 
the donor. The action of the town was as follows : — 

" Ix Town MiiEriNO, Boston, September 13, 1712. 

" AVhereas information was given to this town, at their meeting in 
Jul}', 1740, that Peter Faneuil, Esq., had been generously pleased to 
offer, at his own proper cost and ch.irge, to erect and build a noble and 
compleat structure or edifice, to be improved for a market, for the sole 
use, benefit, and advantage of the town ; provided the town of Boston 
would pass a vote for that purpose, and lay the same under such proper 
regulations as shall bo thought necessary, and constantlj' support it for 
the said use ; 

"And whereas at the said meeting it was determined to accei)t of the 
offer or proposal aforesaid ; and also voted that the selectmen should be 
desired to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq., and to present the thanks of 
this town to him, and also to acquaint him that the town have, by their 
vote, come to a resolution to accept of his generous offer of erecting a 
market-house on J)ock square, according to his proposal ; And whereas 
Peter Faneuil, Esq., has, in pursuance thereof, at a \evy great expense, 
erected a noble structure, far exceeding his first proposal, in.asmuch as it 
contains not only a largo and sufficient accommodation for a market- 
place, but has also superadded a spacious and most beautiful town hall 
over it, and several other convenient rooms, which may prove very ben- 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 17 

eficial to the town for oflicos, or otherwise; and the .said buiUling be- 
ing now finished, has delivered possession thereof to the selectmen, for 
the use of tlie town ; it is tlierefore 

" Voted, That the town do, with the utmost gratitude, receive and 
accept this most generous and noble benefaction, for the uses and inten- 
tions the\' are designed for, and do appoint the Honorable Tiiomas dishing, 
Esq., the Jloderator of this meeting, the Hon. Adam Winthrop, Edward 
Hutchinson, Ezekiel Lewis, and Samuel Waldo, Esqrs., Thomas Hutch- 
inson, Esq., the Selectmen and representatives of the town of Boston, 
the Hon. Jacob AVendell, Esq., James Bowdoin, Esq., Andrew Oliver, 
Esq., Capt. Nathaniel Cunningham, Peter Cliardon, Esq., and Mr. 
Charles Apthorp, to wait upon feter Faneuil, Esq., and, in the name of 
the town, to render bim their most hearty thanks for so bountiful a gift, 
with their prayers that this, and other expressions of his bountj* and 
charity, ma}' be abundantl}' recompenced with the divine blessing." 

Another vote was passed, that in testimonj' of the town's gratitude to 
Peter Faneuil, and to perpetuate his memory, "the hall over the market- 
place be named Faneuil Hall, and at all times hereafter be called and 
known by that name." As a further testimonj^ of respect, the selectmen 
were instructed to procure a portrait of Mr. Faneuil, at the town's 
expense, and place it in the hall. 

This building was one hundred b}' forty feet, and the hall would con- 
tain one thousand persons. It was burnt in 1761, and rebuilt, by order 
of the town, in 1763, a lottery being authorized bj- the State to aid in 
the design. In 1806, the width of the building was increased to eighty 
feet, and a third story was added. 

The first oration delivered in the hall was a eulogy on the death of 
Peter Faneuil, pronoimced bj' John Lovell, A.M., the master of the 
Latin School. 

During the siege of Boston the hall was fitted up into a theatre, 
where pla3-s, derisive of the patriots, were performed. 

"In this hall was first heard the eloquence of a Hancock, the two 
Adamses, a Bowdoin, a Mollineus, and a Warren. In this hall was 
first kindled that divine spark of liberty, which, like an unconquerable 
flame, has pervaded the continent — a flame, which, while it proved a 
cloud of darkness to the enemies of America, has appeared like a pillar 
of fire to the votaries of freedom, and happilj* lighted them to empire 
and independence." — Massachusetts Magazine. 



18 CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

MAIN GUARB-HOUSE OF THE BRITISH TROOPS. 

When the British troops landed in Boston, Governor Bernard gave up 
the State-House to them, much to the annoyance of the courts which sat 
there, and to the merchants and citizens who used the lower part of the 
building for an exchange ; after an unsucessful attempt to obtain 
possession of the Manufactory building for a barrack, other buildings 
were procured, in various parts of the town, in which the troops were 
quartered. 

The main guard was posted in a building on King street, directlj- 
opposite the south door of the State-House, and two field-pieces were 
pointed directlj' towards it. 

This was looked upon as a menace to the liberty of the people, and an 
attempt to overawe the legislative and judicial bodies which met in the 
State-House, and much indignation was expressed thereat. When the 
Superior Court met in November, 1769, James Otis moved, "That the 
court adjourn to Faneuil Hall, not only as the stench occasioned by the 
regulars in the representatives' chamber might prove infectious, but as it 
was derogatory' to the honor of the court to administer justice at the 
mouths of cannon and the points of bayonets." 

It was a detachment of the main guard, stationed in this building, 
which fired upon the people in King street, on the 5th of March, 1770. 

LONG WHARF. 
In 1709, Oliver Noyes, and others, proposed to the town to build and 
maintain a wharf with a sufficient common sewer, from the end of King 
(now State) street to low-water mark, " leaving a wa}- three feet wide on 
one of the sides thereof, as a highwa}' for the use of the inhabitants of 
said town and others, and to extend from one end of the same unto the 
other forever ; and leaving a gap of sixteen feet wide, covered over, for 
lighters and boats to pass and repass, about the middle of said wharf, or 
where the Selectmen shall direct, as also a passage-way on the new 
wharves, on each side, for carts, etc. ; leaving the end of said wharf free 
for the town, when they shall see reason, to plant guns for the defence 
of said town." The proposition was referred to the Selectmen, who, in 
1710, reported in favor of accepting it, and they were authorized to 
execute the proper instruments, which they did on the 13th of May. The 



EVACUATION OP BOSTOJf. 19 

wharf Tras known first as " Boston Pier," and in the act of incorporation, 
granted in 1772, is described as " Boston Pier, otherwise called the Long 
Wharf." 

The property was divided into twentj'-four shares, and descendants of 
some of the original owners still retain the ownership of shares and 
stores. In 1745, during the war with France, the town erected a breast- 
work and planted a line of guns upon the end of the wharf. This 
appears to be the only instance of the town's availing itself of the 
reservation contained in the grant to the proprietors. 

After the fall of Louisburg, Governor Shirley lauded here, and met 
with a brilliant reception. General Gage landed here in 1774, and was 
received by the members of the Council and House of Representatives. 
Some of the principal inhabitants of the town, with the companj* of 
cadets, escorted him to the Council Chamber amid salutes of artillery 
and the cheers of the ' ^ople. ISIost of the British troops landed here, 
and the 5th and 38th British regiments embarked from here for 
Bunker Hill. When the British evacuated the town this was the 
principal point of embarkation. A large quantity of stores was left 
upon the wharf, and General Gage's chariot was taken from the dock 
broken. A brigantiue, a sloop, and a schooner were scuttled and left 
there, and many articles were found in the dock, which had been thrown 
over by the British. 



20 CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSAKY OF TllB 



ILLUMINATIONS. 



On the eveuing of March 17, 1876, the following buildings were 
illuminated by the city authorities : — 

Faneuil Hall, City Hall, the Old State-House, and the Old 
South Church. The State-House was illuminated by the State 
authorities. Calcium lights were exhibited from the top of 
Bunker Hill Monument, at Dorchester Heights, from the top 
of the Lawrence School-house, and from the Cochituate stand-pipe 
at the Highlands. 

Fortifications were constructed by the Americans during the 
siege on Dorchester Heights, on the hill where the stand-pipe is 
situated, and on what was then known as Nook's Hill, the site of 
the Lawrence School-house. 

The following is a brief account of the last-mentioned places : — 

DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

The works on Dorchester Heights were constructed with a view of 
forcing the enem}- to attack the American lines. On the 26th of February, 
"Washington wrote : " I am preparing to take a post on Dorchester 
Heights, to try if the enemy will be so kind as to come out to us." 

The work of constructing the fortifications was commenced about eight 
o'clocli, on the night of tlie 4th of March, and when morning dawned, the 
works were in a condition to afford a good defence against small arms 
and grape-shot. 

The worlcs commanded both the harbor and the town, and left the 
British but one alternative, either to evacuate the town, or to drive the 
Americans from their fortifications. 

The latter course was determined upon, and twentj-four liundrcd men 
were ordered to rendezvous at Castle William, for the purpose of making 
a night attack upon the works. 



EVACUATION OP BOSTON. 21 

That afternoon a furious storm arose ; the surf was so great upon the 
shore where the boats were to have landed that the}' could not have 
lived in it, and the design was abandoned. A council of war was held, 
and it was determined to evacuate the town. 

ROXBURY FORT. 

The Cochituate stand-pipe marks the site of what was considered one 
of the strongest forts constructed by the Americans during the siege. 

It was built under the direction of General Knox, and was known as 
the Roxbur}' Fort, sometimes called the High or Star Fort. 

The strength of its constrnction, and its position on the top of a steep 
hill, rendered it almost impregnable. 

NOOK'S HILL. 

The appearance, on the morning of March 17th, 177G, of ihe fortifica- 
tions on Nook's Hill hastened the departure of the British troops. It 
completeh- commanded the town, and its possession by the Americans 
would place the British forces at their mercj'. 

An attempt was made bj' the Americans to fortif}- it, on the 9th of 
March, a strong detachment being sent for that purpose ; but one of the 
men kindled a fire, which was seen by the British, who commenced a 
severe cannonade upon them. Five Americans were killed, and the 
detachment was forced to retire. 

On the IGth another detachment was sent to the hill, and succeeded in 
fortifying it, in spite of a heavy cannonade, and the next morning the 
British evacuated the town. 



EECEPTION OF THE WASHINGTON MEDAL. 



':/<y, ■'/,'(■ y^^'^^-^^Ce-^^/A'l/'^f^^^^^^^ U<^i^^ta///>/,)My//y 



"i y.£>^l-'yt 



'y 'G(^9t^t.^i>^£^^i-- y/CAc. ^ /i/iVfey^e^^/ >/ -VJ,.)/, // 




■4,;,. 






THE WASHINGTON MEDAL. 



The gold Medal commemorative of the Evacuation of Boston became 
the property of George Steptoe Washington, the son of Samuel Wash- 
ington, who was the General's elder brother. The next owner of the 
Medal was Dr. Samuel Walter Washington, eldest son of George 
Steptoe Washington. On the decease of the doctor at Hasewood, Vir- 
ginia, in 1831, his widow became possessed of the relic. She is still 
living. She had given it to her only son, George Lafa3-ette Washington, 
who had married the daughter of her brother, the Eev. Dr. John B. 
Clemson, of Claj-mont, Delaware. Ou the recent decease of George 
Lafayette Washington, the Medal became the property of his widow, 
Mrs. Ana Bull Washington, from wliom with proper certificates and 
vouchers, b}' the generous co-operation of fifty citizens of Boston, it has 
now been secured to the permanent ownership of this city, with which it 
is so gratefully identified, and has been deposited in the Public Librar3^ 

Thus it appears tliat the Medal has been transmitted through the 
descendants, in successive generations, of General Washington's elder 
brother. The}- have fully appreciated its intrinsic and symbolic value, 
and have anxiouslj- taken care for its safety under the risks and perils 
which have attended its preservation. It is, itself, a most beautiful and 
perfect specimen of workmanship of the die and mint, and is without a 
blemish or anj- perceptible wear of its sharp outlines. During our civil 
war its then owner, George Lafaj-ette Washington, was residing eleven 
miles from Harper's Ferry, on the main route to Winchester, where the 
belligerents held alternate possession. The Medal, in its original case 
of green seal-skin, lined with velvet, was enveloped in cotton, and, de- 
posited in a box, was buried in the dry cellar of a venerable mansion 
where General Washington usually spent many months of the genial 
portion of the j-ear. The original case, which fell into decay by this 
exposure, accompanies the Medal in its present repository-. 
4 



26 CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

The successive owners of tliis precious heir-loom have often been 
solicited to part with it by private importunit}', or for public institutions, 
but have always declined to do so, having in view that if ever it passed 
out of their hands it should be to find its resting-place in the City of 
Boston. The losses to which its owners were subjected during the late 
war, concurring with the interest of the occasion of the centennial day 
W'hich it commemorated, combined to induce the measures which have 
had such a felicitous result. 

A member of the Washington family residing in Texas, being aware 
of the willingness of his kinswoman in Delaware to part with the Medal, 
on the conditions just referred to, addressed a letter, on the 6th of last 
December, to his Honor, Mayor Cobb, making proposals to bring about 
the intended object. 

As the Mayor did not judge it expedient to propose any official action 
to the city government, he consulted with the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop 
on the subject, who immediately prepared a subscription paper, which 
he, with the heartj- co-operation of the Mayor and of ex-Maj-or the Hon. 
Otis Norcross, succeeded in having filled to the necessary amount. 

While this measure was in progress the Rev. Dr. Clemson, the uncle 
of the late George Lafayette Washington, and the father of his widow, 
Mrs. Ann Bull Washington, not being aware of tlie facts just stated, on 
February 22, 1876, addressed a letter to the Hon. John C. Park, of this 
citj', opening a direct communication between the owner of tlie Medal 
and those who were interested in its transfer. In this letter Dr. Clem- 
son writes : " I might state that the Medal was verbally purchased by 
Governor Andrew, of your State, and on this honored day [the birth- 
da}- of Washington] was to have been presented to your citizens. But 
liis premature death prevented the consummation." 

This Medal, of which a description will be found in the foUovving pages 
of this volume, was the only gold medal given by Congress to General 
Washington. Between the date of March 25, 1776, w'hen this gift was 
bestowed by a resolve of Congress, and the year 1786, bj' votes of the 
same bodj', a series of ten more gold medals was struck at the Paris mint 
commemorative of the great events and the great men of the War of the 
Revolution. The French Government presented a set of these in silver, 
including also one in the same metal of that which had been given to him 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 27 

in gold, to General Washington. It is asserted that they were prepared 
substantially' undei" the direction of Lafayette. This series of eleven, 
known as the " Washington Medals," on the decease of the childless 
General, were disposed of with other similar treasures, under the direc- 
tion of his administrator, Judge Bushrod Washington, among the heirs- 
at-law. They afterwards came into the possession of the Hon. Daniel 
Webster, and, soon after his decease, into the hands of his friend, the 
Hon. Peter llarvej-, of Boston. This gentleman, in April, 1874, most 
generouslj' bestowed them upon the Massachusetts Historical Societj-, 
in whose cabinet they are now gratefullj- treasured. Thus all the 
" Washington Medals " are now in the City of Boston. 



PKOCEEUINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL RELATIVE TO THE 
AV.\SIIIXGTON MEDAL. 

At a meeting of the Board of Aldermen, March 20, 1876, the 
following commimicatiou was received : — 

Executive Department, March 20, 1876. 
To THE Honorable the City Council : — 

Gentlemen, — It affords me much pleasure to inform you that the gold 
Medal presented to General George Washington b}- the American Con- 
gress in 1776, commemorative of the evacuation of Boston by the British 
troops, was recently purchased of the Washington family bj- a few of 
our citizens, to be given b}- them to the City of Boston and preserved in 
the Boston Public Library. This most valuable relic, so peculiarly 
interesting to Boston as commemorating the most important event in 
her historj-, has been placed in my hands, and by me transferred to the 
Trustees of the Public Library*, in whose custody" it is to remain, in 
accordance with the wishes of the donors. A copy of the subscription 
list, with the preamble stating the object of the subscription, is enclosed 

herewith. 

SAMUEL C. COBB, Mayor. 



28 



CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE 



[cOPT.] 

The large gold Medal presented to "Washington, by Congress, for his 
services in expelling the British forces from Boston on the 17th of March, 
1776, having remained in the Washington family for a hundred years, is 
now, owing to the circumstances of its immediate owner, privately 
offered for sale. The undersigned, feeling deeplj^ that such a memorial 
should be among the most cherished treasures of our city, and should 
certainlj' go nowhere else, lierebj' agree to be responsible to an amount 
not exceeding one hundred dollars each, for the purchase of the Medal, 
to be presented to the City of Boston, and preserved forever in the 
Boston Public Library. 

December, 1875. 



Robert C. Winthrop, 
John Amory Lowell, 
W. Amorj', 
John L. Gardner, 
Samuel C. Cobb, 
Robert M. Mason, 
Charles Francis Adams, 
Otis Norcross, 
N. Thayer, 
Cora F. Shaw, 
Martin Brimmer, 
William Gaston, 
Edward Austin, 
Abbott Lawrence, 
H. P. Kidder, 
James Parker, 
H. IL Hunnewell, 



S. D. Warren, 
Nathaniel J. Bradlee, 
J. Ingersoll Bowditch, 
Henrj- L. Pierce, 
T. G. Appleton, 
William Appleton, 
William Endicott, Jr. 
Charles Faulkner, 
Henry Lee, 
William S. Appleton, 
Mary Brewer, 
C. A. Brewer, 
George C. Richardson, 
Amos A. Lawrence, 
Ebeu D. Jordau, 
Walter Hastings, 
J. Huntington Wolcott, 



George W. Wales, 
E. R. Mudge, 
William W. Tucker, 
Henrj^ G. Denny, 
James L. Little, 
P. C. Brooks, 
Sidnej' Brooks, 
Isaac Thacher, 
Henry A. Whitney, 
Richard C. Greenleaf, 
Thomas Wigglesworth, 
Alvah A. Barrage, 
Alexander H. Rice, 
James Davis, 
E. B. Bigelow, 
Charles Whitney. 



Sent down. 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 29 

At the meeting of the Common Council, March 23d, the com- 
munication was read and placed on file, and Mr. Guild, of 
Ward 9, after some appropriate remarks, offered the following 
resolves : — 

Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be i^iesented to Hon. 
Robert C. Winthrop and his associates, for their active interest and 
successful effort in procuring and presenting to the City Council of 
Boston the valuable Medal which was given to General Washington in 
commemoration of his distinguished sen'iees in compelling the surrender 
of the Town of Boston hy the British Arm}' in 1776. 

Resolved, That the members of the City Council are especially grati- 
fied that this precious memorial of Washington is henceforth to abide in 
this city, whose relief from peril was the occasion of its emission one 
hundred years ago. 

The resolves were read twice and passed. 
Sent up for concurrence. 

In Board of Aldermen, March 27, 1876, the foregoing resolves 
were passed iu concurrence, aud were approved by the Mayor 
March 28, 1876. 



SERA^CES IN MUSIC HALL. 



SERVICES IN MUSIC HALL, 



The Music Hall was well filled hy an intelligent and apprecia- 
tive audience, thoronghly imbued with the spirit of the occasion. 
The Legislature, the City Council, and members of the City Gov- 
ernment occupied seats upon the floor. Upon the platform were 
seated the principal civil, military and naval United States otEcers ; 
His Excellency the Governor and Staff; His Honor the Lieutenant 
Governor ; His Honor the Mayor ; the Justices of the Supreme 
Judicial Court, together with many leading citizens. 

The decorations Mere confined almost entirely to the platform, 
and were appropriate to the occasion. In front of the organ, 
extending from one side of the platform to the other and half way 
to the ceiling, was a maroon-colored curtain, the border trimmed 
with bunting of the national colors. In the centi'e of the npper 
edge was a tMblet bearing the date " 1776," surmoimtcd by au 
eagle. At the corners to the right and left respectively were fac- 
similes of the obverse and reverse of the Washington Medal. 
Below the centre tablet hung a white banner bearing upon it a 
representation of the Pine-Tree. Below this was an English flag 
and a representation of the first American flag, the staffs crossed. 
The front of the platform was decorated with evergreens and 
calla lilies. Upon the face of the upper balcony was a repre- 
sentation of the city seal, decorated with bnnting of the national 
colors. 

Attached to the front of the reading desk was the old oaken tab- 
let, bearing, in carving, the King's Arms, taken from tiie Province 



Si CENTEXXL\L AX:N'IVEESx1EY OF TILE 

House ;i hmidi-ed years ago ; preserved in the cabinet of the Mass. 
Historical Society, and Iqaned for the occasion. 

At 2.30 o'cloclc, after music by the Germania Band, His Honor 
tlie Mayor addressed the audience in the following words : — 

The members of tliis assembly are invited to give their 
attention Avhile prayer is oftered by the Rev. Dr. Manning, 
and at the close to unite in repeating the Lord's prayer. 

Rev. Dr. Manning, pastor of the Old South Churcli, then 
offered the following prayer : — 

PKAYER BY REV. DR^ MAXNIXG. 

Almighty God, Avhom Ave Avorship as the maker and 
upholder of worlds; Ave giA^e Thee our humble and most 
hearty thanks for all Thy favor and mercy toA\"ard our na- 
tive land. Especially do Ave noAV thank Thee for Thy 
goodness to this beloA'ed CommouAvealth : for Thy favor- 
ing proAddence in the days of its infancy and feebleness; 
and for the men Avhom Thou didst raise up in our OAvn 
city, at the time to Avhich our thoughts noAV^ go back, Avho 
forsook their homes and their dearest treasures and asso- 
ciations, and risked then* Uacs, that they might drive out 
the ai'med iuA-ader, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
themselves and to us their children. ~We thank Thee for 
the great deliverance anIiicIi Thou didst send them, Avhich 
Ave are this day met to commemorate. "VTe thank Thee 
that the mother-country, that Old England Avhosc oppres- 
sions proA'oked oiir fathers to take up arms against her, is 
to-day our firm friend and ally among the nations of the 
earth; and that the mother and daughter are united in 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 35 

efforts to maintain a spirit of peace and good-will be- 
tween themselves, and to extend the blessings of a Chris- 
tian civilization throughout the Avorld. We thank Thee 
that Thou hast jireserved to so great a degree the valor 
and soundness of our Xew England stock, so that to-day 
the e3'cs of the nation are tiu'ned hitherward in the time of 
extremity, for men who shall stem the floods of corruption 
at home, and who shall worthily represent our spu*it and 
guard our interests in foreign courts. Prepare us now, 
we beseech Thee, to profit by the lessons of historic 
scenes and events which may pass in review before our 
minds. Let it be impressed iipon us, while we are listen- 
ing to Thy servant, that a pm"e and upright character is 
the most precious rehc of our past history which we can 
cherish; and that such a character, built up in us and our 
children, is the noblest monument Ave can erect to the 
memory of the men who laid the foundations of oiir gov- 
ernment. Bless, we beseech Thee, our enth-e land; all its 
rulers and all its people. Bless this beloved Common- 
wealth, the citizens and those who are in authority over 
us. Be gracious imto the city in which we dwell, bestow- 
ing Thy favor upon its government, upon its industries, 
upon its churches, its schools and its homes. Let us 
never degenerate from the heights of moral excellence 
where our fathers stood. But as the centuries pass away, 
one after another, may the character of om* people be 
lifted nearer and nearer to that perfect standard of recti- 
tude which is set before us in the teachings and example 
of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. 

Om" Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as 



36 CEXTENXIAL AX^'I^"EESAEY OF THE 

it is in heaven. Give ns this clay our daily bread; and 
forgive lis our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead 
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine 
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. 
Amen. 

At the conclusion of the princr, the Germania Band played a 
selection, after Avhich the Mayor spoke as follows : — 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF MAYOR COBB. 

Fellow Citizexs : — One hundi-ed years ago to-day 
the British anny, after standing a siege of almost a year, 
vacated the town of Boston at daybreak, and sailed down 
the harbor, bomid for Halifax. The Continental troops 
immediately marched hi and took triumphant possession. 
From that day to this no hostile force has trod the streets 
of the good old town. The nearest approach to such a 
humiliation was in 1863, when the Confederate army, at 
the culminating pouit of its successes and hopes, reached 
Gettysburg. That army did not arrive in Boston at that 
time. It did arrive on the 17th of Jime, 1875, by some of 
its representative organizations; not, however, breathing 
threatenings and slaughter, but bearing the olive-branch 
of Peace, coming with fraternal confidence and receivhig 
a fraternal welcome ; and on this very platform placed the 
pahnetto beside the pine-tree, — the two s^^nbols never to 
be separated again, so they said, and so we said. 

In a like spirit we will celebrate this anniversary of the 
Evacuation, hoping, amid the grateful and patriotic mem- 
ories that cluster about the occasion, to strengthen still 
further the bonds of concord between the lately hostile 



EVACrATIOX OF BOSTOX. 37 

sections of the country, and also the relations of cordial 
aniit}' between the revolted colonies and the mother-coun- 
try, — foes a hundred years ago, but friends to-day by 
every motive of mutual interest and every sentuneut of 
kinship and every genei'ous hope for the world's peace 
and the progress of humanity. 

We do Avell, fellow-citizens, in coming together to-day 
to listen to the stor^- of the Siege and Evacuation. The 
telling of it has been confided to one eminently fitted by 
his studies and tastes to tell it thoroughly and well. . 

May we so listen to it as to be inspired with new thank- 
fulness to the God who upheld our fathers in theu* great 
struggle, and who has carried their children through all the 
trials and perils of the centiuy, and with new vows of de- 
votion to the unity and welfare of our country, our whole 
country, and the preservation and purity of its institu- 
tions. 

B}" a most happy coincidence mth the spirit of this oc- 
casion, I am privileged to announce a circumstance which 
will be a welcome delight to all our citizens. The oi'ator 
of the day Avould have had to remind you, that, in com- 
memoration of the great event of this day, and as an 
expression of the profound respect of the people for 
Washington, — the head of our armies, — the Congress 
at Philadelphia, which had appointed hun to his command, 
on learning that he had regained the possession of Boston, 
passed votes expressing then" warmest praise and grati- 
tude, and providing that a Medal in gold, commemorating 
the event, should be struck to be presented to him. 

That Medal, after the lapse of a hundred years, now 
visits for the fu'st time the city with which it has so vitally 



38 CENTEiraiAL ANlSnVERSARY OF THE 

interesting associations. It has been cherished in the line 
of the Washington family, fondly prized, and watchfully 
guarded. It has come here to stay, and is the property of 
the city. By the consent of its recent OAvner, and the 
thoughtful liberality of a few of our citizens, it is hence- 
forward, with proper vouchers for its authenticity and 
transfer, to be deposited in the Public Libi-ary of the city. 
I now put it into yoiu" hands, sir, as yovi are about to 
rehearse the history of the event which it commemorates. 

At the conclusion of the Mnyor's remarks, the orator of the 
day, George E. Ellis, D.D., delivered the following address : — 

[The address is here printed at length, as it was written. 
Considerable parts of it were omitted in the delivery.] 



EVACUATION' OF BOSTOK. 39 



ADDEESS OF GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D. 



jjf/v Mayor and Fellow-Citizens : — 

The Memorial Medal Avhich you have put into my 
hands is itself the golden text, and substantially the 
orator and the discom-se of this Centennial Day. In the 
discharge of the grateful and enviable office which you 
have assigned to me, I can at best but interpret the de- 
vice and expand the legend of this precious token. 
Wrought of the purest of the metals, coined iuto grati- 
tude and reverence, a magnetic power of subtle and refii>- 
ing potency ought to inhere in it from the pm-e hands into 
which it first came. 

It was the first gift, a complimentary tribute accom- 
panying a hearty recognition of high service, — made by 
what we must call, by anticipation, oiu* repubUc. It ex- 
pressed the incipient nation's gratitude to its foremost 
man, then, ever since, and never more than now. An 
illegal assembly of delegates meeting at Philadelphia, 
from twelve rebelling colonies, — not yet asserting their 
Independence, but writmg loyally theu* grievances and 
petitions to the King of Great Britain, who had expressly 
forbidden their assembling, — had nevertheless commis- 
sioned a military chieftain to head and lead an array of 
ai-med patriots against the invading forces of that mon- 



40 centen:n'lvl AxxivEKSiVn\' of the 

arch. He had done so for nine of the eleven months 
through which those troops, reinforced and supphed by a 
fleet in the open harbor, had been beleaguered on this 
peninsula. The sldll and energy of that commander 
devised measures by which the humiliated army and fleet 
of Britain were driven away, never to return here again. 

The Congress at Philadelphia — a thirteenth colony 
being now represented in it — voted its thanks and grati- 
tude to the commander-in-chief, and provided for this 
golden medal to be struck and presented to bun. John 
Adams, with two associates, was charged with arranging 
for its device and inscription, when it should be struck in 
Paris. The decorator of this hall for to-day's exercises 
has thrown out the semblance of the medal, in proportions 
not one whit too enlarged. It bears, on the obverse, a 
profile head of Washington, — said to have been an ad- 
mirable likeness, — encircled with an inscription in Latin, 
which reads in English, — " The American Congress to 
George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of its Armies : 
The Assertor of Liberty." On the reverse, Washington 
and his aids appear on horseback on the Heights of Dor- 
chester, amid field-works and muniments, the town of 
Boston in view, while the chief points to the fleet of ves- 
sels, whose sterns show that they are leaving the harbor. 
The inscription, Englished, is, " The enemy being first 
routed, Boston was recovered March xvii. JVHDCCLXXYT." 

There was an anticipation of triumph and of fame in 
this public gift, made at so early a stage in a long strug- 
gle, and in the opening of the national career of the 
august commander. Lofty and yet modest in its self- 
regards as was the dignity of his spirit, was not this 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 41 

treasured gift, sometimes taken from its repository and 
in the retii'ement and home privacy of Washington, 
fondly gazed upon, with the reckonhigs of memory and a 
good conscience, in recalling tranquilly the anxious past? 
The medal, fully appreciated for its intrinsic and symbolic 
value, has been transmitted through the family of his 
elder brother. During our civil war it was held by those 
who lived where the combatants on either side were 
changing places. Then, for safe-keeping, it was buried in 
the ground some eleven miles from Harper's Ferry. Un- 
der ground was the proper place for it then; for it was 
not meet that it should be in the sunlight during the 
struggle over the life of the nation Avhich Washmgton had 
created and saved. Shall we not all rejoice, fellow-citi- 
zens, that just after a century has transpired since a great 
enterprise was consmnmated, this memorial of it has 
found its shrine in this rescued city? 

It will be for the scholar, the orator, and statesman who 
worthily owns the name and lineage of the honored and 
revered foimder of this Town and State, m the glorious 
summer mouth of the Nation's Centennial, to give elo- 
quent voice to the echo of a hundred years of the procla- 
mation of that nation's birth. My word is limited to this 
old peninsula of Boston. The event to-day commemo- 
rated, alike in the protracted and weary work which 
culminated in it, and in its place and unport m the yet 
more protracted series of struggles which it opened, has 
its transcendent interest and glory. We commemorate 
the Centennial of the one most memorable day in all the 
two and a half centuries of the history of Boston, — the 
day on which the only hostile force that has ever occupied 



42 CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSAHY OF THE 

it was cli'iven from it, that its scattered inhabitants might 
return to their own homes and peaceful ways of honest 
industry. The theme is not one for rhetorical ornament, 
nor for ideal, imaginative flights. Its historic facts carry 
with them stirred emotions and iastructive lessons. This, 
is the one day in- the long series of centennial commemo- 
rations, extending through seven years, that belongs 
especially and exclusively to this dear old town of Bos- 
ton, — tlie day of its great deliverance from pestUence, 
sword and famine. I must, therefore, look upon and 
address all around me as natives of Boston; or, in the 
exceptional cases of those of you who may not be so, as, 
whUe duly deploring the misfortune, at least its good citi- 
zens, including the sex that does not yet vote. Let us 
recall the old town as it was at the time with which we 
have to deal. 

OLD BOSTON. 

It was a pear-shaped peninsula, less than two miles 
in its extreme length, and but little more than one in its 
greatest breadth. It hmig to the main land at Roxbury 
by a slender stem or neck, of a mile in length, so low and 
narrow between tide-washed flats that it was often sub- 
merged. It was occupied by the first colonists here as 
their capital, because of these natural features; its sea- 
front, its water-borderings, and the ease of defending it 
at the ISTeck against Indians and wolves. There was a 
barrier constnicted for this pm-pose near Avhere the strong 
lines and defences of our besieged enemy were planted. 
The territoi'ial area and aspect of the peninsula had 
been scarcely changed at aU, ui theu- natm-al featm-es, at 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 43 

the time of the siege from what they were when it was 
first settled. Extraordiuary clianges have been made 
since, most of tliem Avithiu the last half century. The 
origiaal seven hundred acres of sohd land have now be- 
come nearly fifteen hundred. The gain has been made 
by reclaiming the broad, oozy salt marshes, the estuaries, 
coves and bays, once stretching wide on its northern and 
southern bounds. Where the area was then the narrow- 
est it is now the widest. Besides the two elevations, 
Copp's and Fort Hill, which rose on the northern and 
southern ends of the promontory, another with triple 
summits — the only one of which that remains is the site 
of the State House — gave the name of Tri-moimtain, 
or Tremont, to the settlement. The sharp declivities and 
bold undulations of the surface of the peninsula had not 
been disturbed at the time of the siege. The hundred 
thoroughfares, lanes and alleys, with their naiTow courts 
and sinuous windings, have been broadened and straight- 
ened and extended and multiplied; the whole sm-face has 
been levelled and graded, every square mch of it has been 
turned over and over, and it has been bm-rowed under 
ground as diligently as it has been coursed above. More 
labor and money have been exi^ended upon the mere soU 
of this peninsula than upon the land surface of all oiu' 
other old cities. The granite ledges of the coast and of 
the interior, the forests of Maine, the sand and gravel of 
our country hills, have been deposited here to give us 
deep water margins, to fringe off our marshes, and to 
make new teiTitory. Abounding bridges and causeways 
make us forget that this town ever was a peninsula. The 
thought not irreverently suggests itself that if the Crea- 



44 CENTENISnAL ANISIVERSAKY OF THE 

tor — as we used to say — but as science is now trying to 
teach us to phrase it, if the Evolving Power, had had re- 
gard to our wislies as to the disposal of land and water in 
this neighborhood, we might have been relieved of much 
cost and toil. The numerous islands in our beautiful bay 
bore still some remnants of their original woods, or were 
covered with tilled fields and pastures for flocks. 

The old town had been for nearly a hundred and fifty 
years the scene of peace, thrift and happiness — with the 
bufietings of human experience mingled in — for exiles, 
almost wholly from England, with their descendants. 
Just previous to the time of its sharp trial it was a privi- 
leged and an enviable heritage. It enjoyed an entail of 
blessings from the toils of a laborious, virtuous and God- 
fearing ancestry, and from a softened, but not repudiated, 
Puritan sway in its households and modes of life. From 
extant letters, diaries, family traditions, mercantile ledgers 
and dra^vings, the old town may be set forth with such 
charms of thrift and comfort, and tranquil prosperity, as 
to di"aw from some of its present citizens regrets that 
theu" times had not been then rather than now. Its 
homes and marts of business were occupied by people, 
mostly of one race and mother country and language, 
with common memories, traditions and interests. One 
little rill, and that from a most healthful and welcome 
stream, had then flowed in from a foreign source, giving 
us, with the Huguenot exiles, names gratefully cherished 
among us, as Bowdoin, Faneuil, Bassett, Sigourney, 
Johonnott, Dupee, Chardon, and others. 

" Well-to-do," " fore-handed," were the local phrases by 
which the general condition of the people would have 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 45 

been described. There was real wealth, too, in the hands 
of some, with complacency, luxury and display. There 
were stately and substantial dwellings, with rich and 
solid furnishings, for parlor, dining-room, hall and cham- 
ber, with plate and tapestry, brocades and laces. There 
were portraits, by foreign and resident artists, of those who 
were ancestors, and of those who meant to be ancestors. 
There were formal costumes and manners for the gentry, 
with parade and etiquette, a self-respecting decorum in 
intercourse with their own and other classes, wann hospi- 
tality, good appetites, and abundant viands, liquid and 
solid, for all. The buildings were detached, none of them 
in blocks. The homes of many of the merchant princes 
and high magistrates were relatively more palatial than 
are any in the city to-day. They stood conspicuous and 
large, surrounded by generous spaces, with lawns and 
trees, with fruit and vegetable gardens, and fields for pas- 
ture, and coach and cattle barns. There were fine equi- 
pages, with black coachmen and footmen. There were 
still wide unfenced spaces, declivities and thickets, where 
the barberry bush, the flag and the muUen-stalk grew 
undisturbed. There were many quaint old nooks and 
corners, taverns and inns, "coffee-houses" — the di'hiking- 
vessels in which were not especially adapted to that 
beverage — shops designated by emblems and symbols, 
loitering places for news and gossip, resorts of boys and 
negroes for play or roguery, and some dark holes on 
wharf or lane. Boston was the chief mart of the prov- 
ince, which numbered nearly 349,000 when I^ew York 
had 238,000. The inhabitants in the toAvn were about 
17,000. There were some 2,000 buildings, four being of 



46 CENTEKKTAT, AJSTNTVERSAUT OP THE 

stone, of which King's Chapel alone remains. Between 
Beacon and the foot of Park street, stood the Work- 
house, the Poor-honse and the Bridewell, all facing the 
Common. On the site of the Park-street church stood 
the Granary; opposite, a large manufactory building, 
used by the British for a hospital. The Jail occupied the 
site of the present Court-House. King and Queen, now 
State and Court streets, were the most compactly covered 
and lined by taverns, dwellmgs, marts and offices of 
exchange. The house provided by the province for the 
British Governor was ojjposite the Old South, standing- 
far back, stately, commodious, with trees and lawn up to 
Wasliington street. The Old State House, with a dignity 
which it has not now, held the halls of the Council and the 
Representatives, with royal portraits and adornings. How 
little is there here now Avhich the patriots and citizens of 
the old days, if they came back, woidd recognize! They 
would thmk that we had set ourselves to obliterate all 
traces of them and their Avays. We camiot but regret the 
removal of all our old landmarks, and the changing of 
ancient names for new. True, the surface of the earth 
and its superstructures belong to the living generation, to 
be disposed wholly for its comfort and convenience. The 
dead can claun only a resting-place beneath it. They 
have by no means secm-ed even that always here ; and if 
they should come out from theu* repose many would have 
to select their grave-stones from an ornamental border, or 
would wonder how other people's names were inscribed 
over their tenements. In the interest of historians, sur- 
veyors, searchers of titles, of those who would know how 
things looked and were called before they were born, and 



EVACUATION OF BOSTOX. 47 

who would be reasonably sui'e that they hold the fee of 
their oavh graves, let there be henceforward no needless 
changing of names, except it may be to restore old ones. 
For we not only wish to know our fathers, but should A«sh 
them to kaow us. 

Yet, as the years of strife were approaching, there had 
come in one qualifying element to the internal harmony and 
security of old Boston, for there were those under its roofs 
a century ago who were divided against themselves. For 
more than a half of its first hundred years the town and 
the colony had been substantially indejiendent of all for- 
eign control; pursuing industry and trade on its own re- 
sources; choosing its own magistrates and holding them 
to accoimt; making and administering its own laws; fight- 
ing its own battles with Indians, Dutch and Frenchmen; 
never, even in poverty or stress of peril, asking, but rather 
repudiating, public aid from abroad. King and Parhament 
had been tolerated as undesu-ed correspondents, for re- 
monstrant and deferential, and rather melancholy letters, 
but the ocean and some other things had had a very chill- 
ing eifect upon love. English armies had begun to find 
their Avay liither, to fight with us, or for us, incidentally to 
the moi'e exigent purpose of driving the French ofi" the 
continent; and, of com'se, England wanted remuneration 
for these services. For more than three quarters of a cen- 
tury before the war, this province, which had prospered 
best when most neglected, which had earned all the liber- 
ties it claimed, and never, for a moment, really yielded, had 
fallen under the sway of foreign masters. 

By its second charter, Kuig, Ministry and Parliament, 
represented here by crown officials, overnaled those legis- 



48 OENTENTSriAl, ANNTVERSAET OF THE 

lative and judicial functions which had previously been 
freely disposed by the people. Boston became, in minia- 
ture, a vice-royalty, with court and church. A subtle but 
potent influence brought in foreign intei-ests and regards, 
feelings and manners, fashions and distuictious. The old 
sterling, thrifty, frugal stock of the people, holding their 
independence as toughly as a tradition, as they were about 
by fighting to make it a certainty, could not and would 
not harmonize with this new element. They would bow, 
but they would not bend. They would petition, but they 
would not comply. They would chaffer, but would ratify 
no bargain about libei'ty. 

Trade, too, though it had enriched, had demoralized a 
portion of the community; for nine-tenths of that trade 
was what is known in law as smuggling. A thousand 
vessels cleared from Boston in a year, com'sing our coasts 
and skimming all ojsen seas. The revenue laws imjoosed 
by Parliament, to restrain the mternal and the foreign 
traffic and commerce of the colonies, were so onerous and 
severe, that our people acted on the assumption, long be- 
fore they fought for and assured it, that the Idng of Eng- 
land had no right to a revenue from this side of the water, 
no more than any one can draw checks on a bank in which 
he has made no deposit. All manufactures, even of articles 
of prime necessity, from our own raw materials even, were 
strictly prohibited. Our people did not mean to be poor. 
They wished to keep their own books. They objected to 
a partnership Avhich did not increase theu* capital, nor 
extend the good-will of their concern. 

So that mth the crown officials resident here, their 
descendants, their satellites, and a class of merchants 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 49 

whose interests, as traders, were rather with England 
than with America, we find tlie keen and vigorous 
materials of a party w*ithin the toAva hostile to its local 
and traditional spu'it. To these are to be added alike in 
the town, and throughout this as well as in the other 
provinces, a few men, high-minded and true-hearted, 
intelligent, respected for talent, culture, position and 
influence, who, with fond clingings to the mother-country, 
or with halting judgments as they cast the horoscope of 
the future, or with timid misgivings as to the probable 
issue of rebellion, shrank from a decision, put in cautions, 
raised remonstrances, or were goaded by the imi^atience 
or rudeness of popular measm-es into committing them- 
selves to the doomed side. These loyalists, tories, " gov- 
ernment-men," while being jealously watched and harshly 
treated by the liberty party, were correspondingly flattered 
and cajoled by the crown officials with promises of immu- 
nity and compensation. But all the inhabitants of the 
town, rebels and tories alike, were to be common sufferers 
in the fate awaiting them. 

THE PEEPAKATION FOR THE SIEGE. 

In this warring and distracted world, sieges, the belea- 
guerment of to^vns, cities and fortresses, by forces on sea or 
land, form one of the largest and most exciting elements 
of all history. A list of them might be classified, and 
duplicated even, under all the letters of the alphabet, 
tossing in strange confusion the troubled annals of all lands 
and all epochs. Stories of skilled manoeuvre and artful 
stratagem, stories of harrowing suffering and of sublime 
heroism, wrought into thrilling narratives of prose, or 

7 



50 CENTENOTAIi AITNIVEESAIIY OF TILE 

sung in the music and rhytlxm of immortal poetry, rehearse 
for us the literature of sieges. We riui over, in memory, 
the leading names of that alphabetical list, with Acre and 
Babylon, Calais and Derry, Gibraltar, Jenisalem, Luck- 
now, ISIalta and Metz, Paris and Pampeluna, Roehelle,] 
Saragossa and Sevastopol and Troy, not forgetting the 
atrocities and the nobleness so glowingly presented by our 
own Motley in liis history of the beleagured cities of the 
Netherlands. 

The passions of love and hate, of creed and empire, of 
blood and djaaasties, have been the weapons of assaUers or 
defenders; and with rare exceptions, in all sieges, the 
enemy has been without the citadel, and those witliin it 
have been guarding then" OA\ai homes. But this old town 
of Boston a centiny ago Avas invested by its own people 
against a foe who held it in thrall. The story of the con- 
tention, running through the ton previous years, which re- 
sulted m seven years of war on this continent, is, or ought 
to be, familiar for this Centemiial season to all Avho hear 
me. The record and the spectacle, as confined simply to 
this spot of earth, and crowded Avith matter of surpassing 
interest, are more than enough for our hurried glance 
to-day. 

The descendants of those exiles who, a centiuy and a 
half before, had settled upon this rough and barren prom- 
ontory, had turned weakness to strength, and had 
attained thrift and vigor from their rugged conditions. 
The spu'it of liberty was in their souls, and the power 
to maintain it was in their veins and fibre. They always 
had been free, in night, in distance, in neglect, and even 
in contempt. And they meant to be free, wdien, hopefully 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 51 

and happily gathering the hai-vest from a hard soil and a 
hard tillage, they had become a coveted prize for parlia- 
mentary spoil and a royal revenue. Seven years before 
the catastrophe, crews of foreign sailors, and marines to 
protect its landing, had brought from over the seas a 
detachment of the royal araiy, who had taken military 
possession of this to^vn. Bad and treacherous advices 
from cro^vn olEcials here had been stealthily sent to the 
royal cabinet that two regiments of British regulars would 
overawe and crush out the demagogue spirit of a few 
restless men who were here fomenting rebellion. The 
further advices — a trifle, but not much wiser — were that 
five regunents Avould sweep the continent of rebellion. 
The larger number was multiplied many tunes, with mer- 
cenary allies, too; l)ut the continent was too large and 
hard for the broom. Protests, pleadings and remon- 
strances, with tongue and pen, had exhausted all their 
peaceful methods against the quartering of troops in the 
town. But still they came, with arrogance, insult and 
defiance, and finally held (lie town against the dwellers in 
its homes. Tlie fanners and mechanics of the adjoining 
country, in this environment of hill and valley, gathered 
almost in a circle around them, and bade them stay 
strictly in the close quarters where they were so unwel- 
come, or take themselves off by the water-way on which 
they came. Both parties, in due time, as we shall see, 
came to accord in the latter alternative. 

This beleaguerment of the soldiers of his Majesty on 
the little peninsula which they had invaded was the 
natural, though somewhat protracted, residt of every 
preceding incident in the controversy. If such troops 



52 CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSART OF THE 

came hither at all, the law provided for them barracks 
at the Castle, as the cows had a vested right to the 
Common, and the citizens to their streets and buildings. 
The commander even hail the conlidence to demand that 
the province should pay these troops; a proposition 
Avhich, of course, Avas not approved. The town-meetings 
were from the lirst, and all along to the siege, the great 
resource of the inhabitants, where courage and shrewdness, 
temporizing or firm decision, met every emergency as 
it arose. AVhen the mischief of these Boston town-meet- 
ings was realized by the royal councillors, their General 
was ordered to forbid the calling of another. But the 
selectmen replied that they had no occasion to call 
another, as the last one was kept alive by adjournment. 
So the General Avrote back, that, for all that he could 
see, or say, or do, one town-meeting might extend 
through ten years. 

What the people had foreboded from the presence of the 
soldiers occnrred in due time, on March 5, 1770, when a 
squad of them, on being annoyed and insulted by a few 
boys and their abettors, fired npon the crowd. The 
so-called " Horrid JVCassacre " furnished the theme for the 
annual oration on that day — "The Danger of Standing 
Armies in Populous Towiis in Times of Peace." Tlie 
occasion was duly honored by the appointed orator, six 
years afterwards, in Watertown, as the troops were pre- 
paring to evacuate. The destruction of the tea in oiir 
harbor, in December, 177o, was followed by the vindictive 
Parliamentary Bill, which tightly closed the Port of Bos- 
ton to all counnerce and water intercourse on June 1st, 
177-1. the dav on whiili, with the melancholy tolling of 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 53 

muffled bells, fitly enough, Hutchinson embarked for 
England. 

From that vengeful measure, more than from any other 
single event, may be dated the succession of measures 
upon both sides — though still to be wearily and wofuUy 
deferred for its final act — which broke the bond between 
England and her American colonies. In the pitiful con- 
dition to which it was now reduced, the melancholy and 
starving town appealed to the other towns in this prov- 
ince, and to the other provinces, and made its own cause 
one of warning and concern to the whole continent. The 
appeals were nobly answered, and generous contributions 
of goods, and food and money were made to the stricken 
and impoverished people from all the seaboard and inland 
settlements, including even Canada. A generous gift 
from the future commander appears on the list. Then 
came a royal breach of the organic provisions of the 
Province Charter, assuming for the King the appointment 
by mandamus of the Governor's councillors, and subverting 
the securities for the conduct of courts of justice. In the 
judgment of reason and equity, not as a prompting of 
passion, this royal breach was regarded as arresting the 
royal sway in tliis province. Henceforward the King's 
Governor became a military general instead of a civil 
magistrate; his official power was restricted immediately 
to this peninsula, or to whatever range he might cover 
with his forces. The province, as we shall see, first of its 
own impulse, and then by help of advice from the Conti- 
nental Congress, took measures for fonning and adminis- 
tering, as a substitute, a popular govenunent. That train 
of measm'cs was initiated in a Massachusetts Assembly, at 



54: CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSAHY OF THE 

Salem, in June, 1774, meeting with doors locked against 
the govci'nor's vetoing messenger, when delegates were^ 
commissioned to a Continental Congress. Committees of 
Correspondence busily pursued their sympathetic tasks. 
Attempts, once baffled and once successful, wei'c made by 
detachments of soldiers to seize supplies wliich the prov- 
ince was beginning to gather for the impending strife. 
Against the remonstrances of the Selectmen of Boston, 
enforced by those of the Continental Congress, General 
Gage renewed and strengthened the fortifications on the 
Neck, alleging that he did not design to prevent free 
ingress and egress, but only to protect his own troops. 
His official spies had more than once been sent out into 
the adjoining country, and returned with over-estimates 
of the stores which the provincials were gathering. Om' 
Centennial of the last year told us all there is to be told 
of the raid of April 19, after the stores at Concord, with 
the British invasion of the country, and of the humiliation 
of the disorderly return to town. Better would it have 
been for them then had they tarried longer in Charlestown. 
Certain ventures made by the provincials to secure hay and 
live stock iijjon the harbor islands, in defiance of British 
gunboats, fill the interval to the day of Bunker Hill. 
The story of that, too, has been exhaustively told. 

THE CLOSING IN OF BOSTON. 

The first stage in the investment of Boston, for the pur- 
pose of confining the royal forces to the peninsula, began 
on the evening of the day of Concord and Lexington. 
Minute-men, farmers, mechanics, and miscellaneous bands 
and groups, with such weapons as they could put their 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 55 

hands on, and such rations as theh* households furnished 
for the moment, gathered upon every foot of soil on the 
surrounding main land of hill, field and marsh. They 
changed day by day for nearly a year ensuing, but only by 
substitution of persons and material. They came first as 
startled men rush out to a conflagration, and stay by to 
watch lest it should spread. Cattle were still browsing in 
the pastures, and horses were tethered to the carts they had 
drawn with their rustic freight. The picturesque groups, in 
the homely array of the farm or the workshop, with their 
arbors or shanties, and an occasional tent extemporized 
from a fishing-smack, as seen from a quiet distance might 
have suggested a gypsy encampment, or a spring picnic. 
But they stayed there so long and to such purpose, with 
such a work to do, and under the training of such a mas- 
ter mind and hand, as to become an army, uniformed, 
drilled, disciplined and officered for a campaign after the 
stern methods of war. The beleaguerment and invest- 
ment of the little sea-washed peninsula, which were to 
extend steadily, with sterner clasp and throttle for the 
eleven ensuing months, began then. There was still some 
passing in and out of the town, by land or water, under 
surveillance, allowed by privilege, or for purposes of 
necessity, or seized by spies, informers, deserters, or those 
of adventurous daring. But the invading forces were 
held to their contracted quarters, and hencefoi-ward Avere 
deprived of vegetables and fresh provisions, except such 
as they could seize from the islands, or obtain by a supply 
vessel. Then came the aggravation of the miseries of the 
patriotic inhabitants of the to^vn, insulted by the military, 
sneered at by their own fellow-citizens, — who boastfully 



66 CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSAKY OP THE 

lu'ld, as royalists, to Avhat they trusted was to be the win- 
inng" side, — straitened for the usual supplies of life, and 
reasonably apprehensive of pestilence and famine within, 
and of a full share in the perils of an assault from their 
friends outside. 

REMOVAL OF THE INHABITANTS OF BOSTON. 

Before the battle in Charlestown the distress and the 
dreads of most of the 17,000 inhabitants of the town in- 
driced them to make an appeal to Gen. Gage for liberty to 
leave it, as the fort iiieat ions on the Neek were rigidly 
guarded, the ferry-ways were closed, and not even a tishing- 
boat could leave the Avharves. The alternative of leaving 
or remaining Avas an embarrassing and cruel one for the 
people themselves; and the gi-anting or refusing permission 
was an equally perplexed and balanced alternative to the 
General. A protracted town-meeting in Faneuil Hall, 
including the whole of a Sunday, presided over by James 
Bowdoin, with jirayer by Dr. Eliot, was excitedly given to 
the matter. The result Avas a covenant, by Avhich the 
General agreed that such citizens, Avith their fiamilies, as 
Avished to go out, on depositing their arms, and agreeing 
not to take ])art in an assault on the toAAu, should have 
passes, and facilities by boat or carriage, for leaving Avith 
their etfects. Those Avho sought the liberty surrendered 
their AA'capons, and Avere prepared to desert their homes 
and Avarehouses, yielding them to risks of plunder, fire 
and destruction, to give up their occupations for a liveli- 
hood, and to take their chance, as dependents on their 
country friends. But the General faltered in his part of 
the covenant, alleging that arms and even cannon had been 



EVACTTATIOX OF BOSTOX. 67 

carted out of the town, hidden under loads of manure and 
by other tricks. The loyahsts in the town protested against 
a measure which, in depriving it of all who sympathized 
with the rebels outside, strengthened their cause and in- 
terest, and would make them more inclined to bombard the 
garrison and all who were left in it. Under then- outcries, 
backed by the advice of some of his remaining councillors, 
Gage withheld the promised facilities for exit, made it 
difficult for any to obtain passes, positively forbade them 
to some applicants, limited the meaning of the word effects 
to clothing and household furniture, excluding goods, food, 
and even medicines, and thus aggravated at once anxiety 
for escape from the town, and the difficulty of securing it. 
The exigencies of the case, however, compelled him to 
allow the exit of a large proportion of the people, while he 
forbade the selectmen, and individuals of whom he was 
jealous, to join them. Gladly did he rid himself of the 
infirm and poor, the sick, women and children. 

It was estimated that before the battle in Charlestown 
10,000 of the inhabitants had left the two peninsulas. All 
such of the exUes as had not friends willing and able to 
receive them were provided for by the province, with a 
tenderly-guarded condition that they v.cre not to be held to 
be paupers, but sustained by a fixed weekly allowance. In 
many cases, one or more members of a family, or agents of 
merchants, remained in town to guard interests or prop- 
erty at risk, and others, as just stated, were compelled to 
stay. So it happened that households were cruelly sep- 
arated during the whole siege, never seeing their several 
members, imagining and foreboding all forms of evil; and 
if occasionally conununicating at the lines, or by letters. 



58 CENTENNIAIi ANNIVERSARY OP THE 

being cleprivcd of all privacy, as interviews were 
watched, and letters were opened on both sides. Thei'e 
was not then, nor is there to-day, a community of the 
same size on this peopled earth that would have been, or 
could be, more grievously racked and shattei'ed, more 
distracted and riven in wi'etchedness and ruin, than were 
the town and people of Boston under these rueful ex- 
periences. Trade, industry, security, all paralyzed; school 
and family discipline, Sunday ways, habits of order, 
obedience and revei'ence at once discredited; sickness 
unsolaced; death hung over with deeper shadows, and 
every bitter drop, not yet in the cup of miseries, reasonably 
anticipated as about to mingle in it, — all these were the 
beginning of sorrows. It was characteristic alike of the 
descent and the habits and principles of the people, that 
arrested apprenticesliips, closed schools, and defiled 
churches and prostrate family altars, were often first and 
most mournfully spoken of as deepening the gloom of the 
siege. It is also a matter of authentic and suggestive 
meaning that even the poorest mechanics and carpenters, 
of the native stock left in the town, refused the tempta- 
tion of high wages to work on the constniction of bar- 
racks for the Bi'itish soldiers, as the cold weather was 
coming on. The provincial authorities, at the request 
of General Gage, reciprocated his allowance of the de- 
pai'tui'e of imsjnnpathizing inhabitants from Boston, 
by pennitting certain country tories to seek a refuge in 
the town, among congenial fellowships. As the event 
proved, it would have been far wiser for them to have re- 
mained outside, debating their variances and making their 



EVACUATIOX OF BOSTON, 59 

peace. A bitter destiny of misery, exile and poverty was 
before them. 

In the Ijattle at Charlestown the British forces gained 
, one square mile of the territory of the continent they were 
to sweep, and lost a thousand men. Xor was this their 
whole loss, nor the most enfeebling element in it. In that 
conflict they parted with their conceit and assurance that 
they had before them only the inglorious, though easy, 
task of dealing Avith mobs of poltroons and cowards, who 
could bluster, but would not fight, even in self-defence. 
The revelations made in the abounding reports and letters 
which have since come to light, as sent to England after 
that engagement, offer unpressive, and often amusing, evi- 
dence that oflScers and men had been roused to a sense of 
the seriousness of the task before them, and would readily 
have given over alike its glory and its risk. They had 
now two little sea-washed peninsulas to hold and guard 
for smnmer and winter quarters. The patriots, griping 
them at both necks, pestered them with many annoyances, 
planning mischief also for the ships in the bay, and making 
bold raids on the crops and flocks of the islands. The 
besiegers began to look less and less like a gypsy encamp- 
ment, or a picnic. They themselves came from four 
provinces, from which also, in some mysterious way, 
unaided by magazines or a commissariat, they drew such 
abundant supplies of food that there was even waste of it. 
After a certain fashion, too, they had officers. Such of 
them as were not housed in the college buildings and in 
neighboring dwellings erected shelters near the hills 
which they fortified. 

Three distinct themes of separate, thought of related and 



(30 CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSAKY OP THE 

absorbing interest, present themselves, as requiring thought 
and notice in rehearsing the Siege of Boston, viz., the work 
of civiUans in providing and administering a government; 
the training of tlie patriot forces in camp, and also of 
their conunander; and the experiences of the beleaguered 
toAvn. 

CIVILIANS CONSTRUCTING A GOVEKNMENT DURING THE SIEGE. 

It is to be remembered that, during the whole siege, 
Massachusetts was still, at best, but one first of Twelve, 
then of Thirteen United British Colonies, not yet United 
States. The bond of allegiance was not severed, nor 
the pride and love for a foreign fealty yielded up, though 
hostile forces of the .realm had shed blood and were at 
open war on field and camp. There was an element of 
the humorous and the grotesque in the situation, if one 
had heart to ti'ace it out amid tlie sterner conditions. 
Curious, perplexing, mystifjong it is to tlie mousing 
reader to scan the public and private papers of those 
times. One can easily prove from them that nothing 
short of rebellion and independence Avas seen in the 
vista by those who first opened the debate with the 
mqther-country; and, as easily, that the same men, or 
their doubles, denied the charge even of sedition, and 
expi'essed amazement and dread of the very idea of an as- 
sertion of independence. And yet every country tOA\Ti, as 
well as the capital, Avas from tlie first committed, in speech 
and writing, to claims and covenants which could not 
possibly stop at any stage short of it. The bird of free- 
dom had got out of its nest and taken wing. Our village 
orators and nascent politicians became masters in all ob- 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 61 

jurgatory rhetoric, and in all the ebiillitions of patriotism. 
The dictionaries of those days had been ransacked for all 
the opprobrious adjectives they could furnish to be at- 
tached to the single commodity of Tea, and the most sting- 
ing terms were drawn upon in dealing with the mcasui-es 
connected with the decoction that had been made of it in 
our harbor. The philippics and rallying cries and burn- 
ing appeals of those days will never lose their latent heat. 
True, we did not then maintain an eagle at the public ex- 
pense. But we were in training to use him, with claw and 
beak, spread-wing and scream, when we should adopt him. 
It was the birth-time of what has been called American 
oratory, or Fourth of July eloquence. A writhing patriot 
embaiTassed the digestion of his fellow-citizens by the 
outburst, " The martial standard of war is erected in the 
very bowels of your town ! " The eagle has now attained 
his maturity, and we shall approve that he henceforward 
assume the calm dignity of age. 

But during the siege of Boston the pens of sagacious 
and able men were engaged in more deliberate and tem- 
pered efforts than those of the tongues of some ardent 
orators. They were providing for that most urgent of all 
social securities, whether in times of peace or of war, the 
supremacy of the civil over the military power. The royal 
mandate, in riding over the charter of Massachusetts, had 
destroyed one branch of its Legislature and subverted its 
judicial courts. Genei-al Gage, by his proclamation of 
June 12, declaring the province in rebellion, and estabUsh- 
ing martial law, with the proscription of pati-iot leaders, 
was held to have vacated his civil authority over the prov- 
ince that he might hold militaiy sway over Boston. The 



62 CENTEIsriflAL ANNTVEESAEY OF THE 

province, thex'efore, was without a legislature and an exec- 
utive, without a magistracy and a judiciaiy. Government 
was undermined and annulled. The old royal sanction 
and method of it could not be revived, and it was for the 
people to decide whether they would dispense with gov- 
ernment, or avert anarchy by constituting it. The Provin- 
cial Congress, on May 5, accepted the gauge wliich the 
garrisoned Governor had thrown down, put their own 
interpretation upon it, and resolved, " that General Gage 
had disqualified himself for serving the colony m any ca- 
pacity; that no obedience was in future due to him; that 
he ought to be guarded agaiust as an imnatural and invet- 
erate enemy." A\ ith a \dew to an instant provision for 
the emergency, the Provincial Congress had the ready re- 
source of reverting to their old and honored forms of self- 
administration, but wisely waited, as did other provinces, 
for advice from the Continental Congress, about "taking 
up and exercising the powers of civil govermnent." The 
Provincial Congress at Watertown had occasion, on May 
18, 1775, to say that they "were determined to preserve 
their dignity and power over the military" — their own 
military. 

It was a sublime triumph of the traditions, principles 
and spirit which had trained the people of Massachusetts, 
that, at a temporary and alarming crisis, when the powers 
of magistrates and the functions of judges were suspend- 
ed, there should have been the least need of them in out- 
bursts of local disorder, or even in controversies of man 
with man. The alternative of a popular government, in- 
stituted and ratified by forms familiar from the long past, 
and sure of the approval and obedience of those whose 



EVACUATION- OF BOSTON. 63 

free-will created and sanctioned them, was at once availed 
of. Cautiously, but firmly, and with daily advances over 
a course which opened for its own successive stages, this 
and the other provinces engaged in the needful work of 
being their own legislators. Advice, recommendations, 
requests, urgent appeals, steadily led on to the bold ven- 
tures of requisition, till popular assent and approval, en- 
forced by the stern necessities of the case, warranted the 
assumption and exercise of a coercive power. The Conti- 
nental Congress, still addressing and petitioning the king 
of Great Britain, as still the sovereign of this part of his 
realm, were hesitating, luidecisive, temporizing, about 
giving the explicit instructions which the provinces had 
asked for the estabUshment of government. But still, 
according to the saying which repeats the homeliest, as 
well as the profoundest wisdom, "one thing came after 
another," and in due time the instructions , came, with an 
indorsement. 

]^o undue encomiums, though they have been warm 
and lavish, especially from the other side of the ocean, 
have been passed upon what we may call the State papers 
of this and the other provinces and of the Continental 
Congress of those troubled years. There is a tone and 
character common to them all. In them civilians guided 
and directed in due subordination the swords of officers 
and soldiers. Beginning with wi-itings from the Select- 
men of Boston and the papers covering the altercations 
of Representatives of Massachusetts with the three Gov- 
ernors, Bernard, Hutchinson and Gage, then proceeding 
with those of the Conunittee of Correspondence, of the 
Coimcil of War, of the Coromittee of Safety, the resolu- 



64 CENTENNIAIi AKNIVERSART OF THE 

tions of Town-Meetings, the mstructions to delegates, 
the documents of the Provincial Congresses, and ending 
with the formal papers of the Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia, we cannot but marvel to-day over the mod- 
eration, the discretion, the acumen, the aptness and co- 
gency of their tone, method and contents. They have 
the exactness, pith and directness most desirable and 
eifective in the best class of legal and official doc- 
uments, without verbiage, complication or mere in- 
genuity in word fence. Whether these papers are 
merely appointments or recommendations of occasions 
for days of Fasting and Thanksgiving according to the 
revered New England usage, for a smgle province, or for 
the continent, or relate to provisions for a paper currency, 
or concern matters in which a local might conflict with a 
general airection of common interests, we note the same 
admirable qualities in them. The most formal of the 
manifestoes and declarations designed to be read abroad, 
were written Avith such power and pertinency as to be 
efficient pleaders of our cause. The following are the 
words of the Earl of Chatham in the House of Lords : — 
" When your lordships look at the papers transmitted 
us from America, when you consider their decency, firm- 
ness and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and 
wish to make it your own. For myself I must avow, that 
in all my readings, — and I have read Thucydides, and 
have studied and admired the master States of the 
world, — for solidity of reason, force of sagacity, and 
wisdom of conclusion, imder a complication of difficult 
circmnstances, no nation or body of men can stand in 
preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia." 



KVACrATIOX OF BOSTOX. b.> 

111 one class of those State papers, such as addresses 
and petitions to the king, and those declaratory of princi- 
ples and purposes, preceding that of Independence, the 
reader of our day is struck by a certain adroit, subtle, 
acute skill, sometimes almost suggestive of art or disin- 
genuousness, in plea, remonstrance, avowal or profession. 
It was the cue, so to speak, of their writers, to distinguish 
broadly between the mind, intent and inclination of the 
King on his throne and in his i^rivacy, and the purposes 
and measures of his Parliament and Cabinet. Notorious 
is it noAV that the stiflf and unyielding obstinacy of the 
King, his almost insane perversity and persistency against 
the advice of his ministers, and even their desire to lay 
down their otfice, goaded on the strife from stage to 
stage ; while Lord JSTorth was a tool, and hardly an agent. 
Of course our fathers did not know, or perhaps even 
imagine, the facts in the case. 

But we can hardly conceive they were, at the same 
time, so stolid, and yet so ingenious, as this class of their 
papers would make them appear. Their avowals of love, 
and loyalty and devoted allegiance to his Majesty, and of 
their desire to comply in all things with Avhat were, or — 
as they understood it — what ought to be his reasonable 
expectations from his subjects here, were most profuse 
and ardent, sometimes excessive and hardly masculine. 
But they fairly offset this mode and tone of addressing 
him by the most defiant, objurgatory and denunciatory 
way of dealing with his advisers. They wrote to and of 
the ministry and parliament Avith an admirable effrontery, 
as if they were really thwarting his Majesty's kind inten- 
tions and purposes. So, while the patriot forces were 
'J 



()() C'KNTENMAI. AXXIVKHSAItY OK TlIK 

coopinj;' iiji the king's troops in Boston, and plundering 
liis store-shiit-s, the Congress at Philadelphia was inscrib- 
ing to hiui addresses and petitions of such a temper and 
profession, that one might almost infer that they "would 
have Aveleomed him to cross 'the sea and take a seat in 
their assembly, or accept from them a connnission to head 
their army in driving otf his own soldiers. Tlu'v had 
motive, if not reason, for thus 2)rofessing love for their 
monarch, while denouncing his ministers. So his troops 
here were spoken of as "the vile and contemptible agents 
of a vengeful and wicked ministry"; or, as Washington 
phrased it, " a diabolical ministry.'' 

This was the sting of the letters addressed by him to 
Generals Gage and Howe, on the treatment and exchange 
of prisoners, and which they so sharjdy resented. It was a 
keen mortitication and provocation to liritish officers and 
soldiers to be uniformly spoken of and dealt Avith as this 
policy of the so-called rebels dictated. Gage called it, on 
the part of "Washington, an "insinuation;" and Ilowe re- 
plied to it as an " invective against his superiors, so insult- 
ing to himself as to obstruct any further intercourse.'' 

A similar character is noticeable in these State papers 
in then- professions of loyalty and willingness to recognize 
the royal, and even the parliamentary and ministerial au- 
thority Avithin certain limits — very cloudily detined, how- 
ever. But every way and form in which it Avas proposed 
that that authority should be exei-cised Avas pronounced a 
grievaiice. It is impossible for ns to trace, distinctly, any 
practicable theory by AA'hith the patriots Avould adjust 
their relations to their mother-country, so that they might 
still be subjects, as they said they Avere willing to be, and 



EVACUATION* OF liOSTON". 67 

yet not Ije in eii])jection, as they resolved they -would not 
be. The eontroversy was constantly shifting its grounds, 
and changing shape, color and substance. It seemed to 
some in England as if we wei-e tricking and trifling with 
them. On the first arrival of the troops, one of the votes 
passed at a Boston town-meeting, Sept. 13, 1768, was, '' As 
there is at this time a prevailing apprehension of approach- 
ing war with France, eveiy inhabitant is requested to 
provide himself witii a well-fixed fire-lock, musket, accou- 
trements and anniiunition." There was no more prospect 
of such a war with France, than of her then bombarding 
Boston with a licet of iron-clad steam monitors. At first 
we protested against being taxed by Parliament, because 
not represented in it; the implication Ijeing that, if Ave 
were represented in it, we would assume our share in par- 
liamentary levies and subsidies. Afterwai-ds, when rep- 
resentation was offered us, we replied that it w(Mild be 
inconvenient to avail ourselves of it. 

The simple truth is, our civilians, as petitioners, remon- 
strants and ])leadei-s, did not reach to the tap-root of the 
controversy, till successful resistance by actual fighting 
laid it open to the light, viz., that distance, lapse of time, 
divergence of interests, and our own growth to self-man- 
agement, made it preposterous altogether that America 
should be a fief of Great Britain. It was but a practice 
in casuistry for us to be complaining of grievances in the 
infraction of the royal charter. The supreme grievance 
was that our life, liberty and property were any way in- 
volved in a charter. 

AVe must trace to the utterances of tongue and pen in 
those days, full as much as to weapons of war, the embit- 



68 CENTENXIAL ANXIVEIiSAKY OF THE 

tcnnent of feeling, jealousies and mutual antipathies be- 
tween the people of Great Britain and her colonies, -which, 
Avith a latent persistency in their transmission, and occa- 
sionally intensely aggravated in their manifestation, were 
yielding to time and reason, till they were revived in the 
complications of our civil war. Obliviousness of the 
people in her Amencan colonies, and utter iudifterence to- 
Avards them, as a decayed or barbarized branch of the old 
ancestral stock, were the prevailing feelings of English- 
men as the storm was gathering-. An astounding amaze- 
ment that these people should liave a word to say for 
themselves as being still, and still claiming the rights of, 
Englishmen, came with the first threat of resistance. 
This feeling passed successively through the phases of 
hauteur, scorn, contempt, passionate hate and vengeful 
malice. True, Ave had ardent friends among A^arious 
classes of the British peo]}le, and bold and eloquent cham- 
pions of some portion of our Avhole cause in Parliament. 
But even the most discerning and forecasting of this 
party in opposition, Avhile tAvo or three among them dared 
to forebode that our complete severance and independence 
might ensue on our resistance to tyranny, did not venture 
to define a consistent policy toAvards us Avhich Avould 
practically reconcile us to any method of foreign rule. 
The qualities Avhich Englishmen then, and ever since, 
have most disliked m lis are conceit, boastfnlness, self- 
suificiency and self-complacency, — the very traits Avhich, 
by blood and lineage, Ave derive from our English an- 
cestry, and Avhich, though someAA'hat melloAved b}' a livelier 
humor and good natm-e, are none the less exhibited almost 
as otfensively by the progeny as by the parent stock. 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 69 

Such was the work which the civiUans of province 
and continent were doing discreetly and with fideHty, as 
they cautiously felt their way on to the construction of a 
nation, during those eleven months through which old 
Boston was a British garrison, and a patriot host en- 
vironed it, first to confine, then to annoy it, and finally to 
di'ive it away. 

THE PATRIOT CAMP AND ARMY. 

We cannot call those swarms and groups of country- 
men an arm}', even until a long time after Washington 
took command, on July 3d. The province had mustered, 
enrolled and officered her own militia and volunteers, and 
the other ^ew England provinces had sent forces simi- 
larly organized — loosely — yet, as it proved, they met the 
emergency. They Avere enlisted for very short terms: 
knew little of subordination or discipline: were apt to 
come and go at their own wills: clung to their own local 
associations: and preferred to allot titles and rank as 
colonels, majoi's, captains, and so on, to the men Avhom 
they had known on their village commons, at town-meet- 
ings, and in the taverns on muster days. Some of these 
ofiicers and men had seen service in the French and Indian 
wai's. Gen. Ward was their commander. After a fashion, 
they held the envii-ons of Boston, through a circuit of 
hill, valley and mai-sh, of nearly twenty miles, including 
guards at outposts, with military works, of their own 
fashion, too, on some prominent and some exposed points. 
They had nothing to be called ordnance, but few muskets, 
and those very poor ones, fewer bajonets, and scarce 
a scattering of powdei-. Yet they did not part witli 



70 CEXTEXXIAL AXXIVERSAEY OF THE 

a single square foot of the soil on which they had 
planted themselves. Though almost incessantly can- 
nonaded fi"om the British works on both peninsulas and 
from the gunboats, not a score of them Avere killed during 
the whole siege. The scene, as slightly sketched by a few 
persons who had an eye for nature as well as for human- 
ity, was sng'gestive and imjJressive, if not beautiful. In the 
glorious summer months of foliage and herbage over that 
splendid panorama, the excited groups Avrought busily by 
day, and kept watch by night, turning the hill-tops into 
citadels, and tranipmg the tilled fields, the sustenance of 
their households and cattle. An encampment of about fifty 
friendly Stockbridge Indians nestled in a grove on the 
present site of the Watertown Arsenal. The riflemen from 
Virginia and Maryland lurked venturesomely in the nearest 
hiding-places, and were a serious annoyance to the enemy 
in picldng off any who were exposed as mai-ks. The 
remnant of the native forest was ciit away in the severities 
of the following winter, and it was long before nature 
recovered her sway over the scene. Two grand and 
fruitful studies in the portraiture of character and the 
development of a mighty task would offer themselves in 
the attempt to delineate the camp of the patriots. One 
would be the self-training of the august commander; the 
other would be the formation and organization of an army 
disciplined and made effective froui crude, extemporized, 
fluctuating, and even resisting materials: and this, too, 
under perplexities and disabilities such as were never 
before encountered by a General in ancient or modern 
warfare. 



EVACUATION" OF BOSTOX. 71 

THE PATRIOT COMMANDER. 

When Washington, in the glory of his manhood, at the 
age of forty-three, shaped and moulded in form, feature 
and mien after natm-e's finest modelling, sat mounted 
under the shade of the elm-tree on Cambridge Common, 
we might have seen in him the frontispiece and title-page 
of a new volume of the world's biography and history. 
He had had military experience in the Avilderness, con- 
verse mth men, and practice in the administration of local 
magistracy. But the Commander-in-Chief was made and 
trained here. And while he was learning here the art of 
war, the method of self-mastery in which his pupilage 
began, trained him to such a knowledge of the arts of 
peace as to fit him to be the master-ruler of the country 
which he had created. Congress had commissioned hun 
as commander without providing him with an army, and 
the army Avhich they imagined as in existence they did 
not furnish with Aveapons, sustenance or pay. And for 
any powers of authority, range of sway, or defined plans, 
either in civU or military affans, Congress, to which the 
connnander was responsible as a servant, was as shadowy 
and imaginary a body as was the army of which he was 
the head. But he surveyed the work before him, and 
sununoned his advisers and helpers. One is tempted to 
say, — indeed, he wrote it liimself, — that he would not 
have assumed the responsibilities committed to him had 
he foreseen the conditions, discomfitures and perplexities 
which were to thicken upon him. The nobler then was 
the constancy Avhich met, Avithout quailing, all these 
thronging spectres as thcA' came out of shadow into 



72 CKXTEXXrVL AXNIVKltSARY OF THE 

reality. Enough that what he liad to encounter of them 
day by day yielded to the resources in himself and in 
Providence. It was never a distrust or regret about the 
cause that came even in liis most depressed hour, but a 
preference for the command of a regiment to that of the 
army. 

He rode the circuit of the lines, detecting successively 
the Avealv points, and strengthening and multiplying the 
defences, till he had filled every gap in them. The out- 
bursts of a resolved and defiant spirit in popular ha- 
rangues and in the writings of ardent patriots, had natur- 
ally led him to expect that he should here find amoug the 
rustic groups some of the jirinuiry, essential qualities of 
soldiers in a camp; and also, in the provincial constitu- 
ency of these soldiers, a i-eadincss to respond to his call 
for needful measures and su[)plies. Sadly and oppress- 
ively was his noble spirit tried by strange deficiencies and 
contrary tokens in these matters. And herein lay the 
grandeur of his magnanimity and of his eqiuniimity. In- 
stead of yielding to dismay and so losing the mastery 
over himself, he boldly faced the facts with which he had 
to deal, traced them to natural and, so far, to necessary, 
occasiims, temporized with them j)atiently, slowly mingled 
in with them qualifying and restraining agencies, and 
then saw them yield to his calm and steadfast purpose. 
He found the men, in what could hardly be called the 
ranks, enlisted but for days or weeks; their companies 
Avere fragments, and their I'cgiments were skeletons ; their 
officers were their village or county notables, commis- 
sioned by local partialities, and on terms of rude and dis- 
orderly familiarity with their men. All of them Avere on 



EVACUATIOX OF BOSTOX. 73 

provincial establishments, crude, raw and temporary. 
Dissension and jealousy Avere incident to enforced sub- 
ordination, and an adjustment of rank and the restraints 
of discipline. Most of these extemporized soldiers felt at 
liberty to come and go at their pleasure, taking for 
granted that more, just like them, could come in their 
room. They had left houses, fields, mills, workshops, and 
families, without guardians or laborers. Who was to 
care for those at home, aye, or provide the food by-and-by 
for the wastefulness of camps? So, whether loiterers or 
enlisted, the mass of those Avhom Washington fii'st saw 
as constituting his command were inconstant and unsteady, 
and to some extent intractable. Yet the very vagrancy 
and fliTCtuation of these provincial forces led the enemy 
in Boston to overestimate their numbers and the efiective- 
ness of the service they could perform. This misleading 
fancy was in fact the reason why the patriot camp was 
not vigorously assailed when it was realh^ the most ex- 
posed and weak. Yet an enormous amoiuit of hard 
work with hand and spade had been done on the in- 
trenchmcnts, though engineers were wholly lacking, and 
tools were few and poor. 

When Washmgton instituted an inquiry, the result 
reported to him was, that he had 14,500 men fit for some 
soii; of military service. But of such as could be relied 
on as soldiers he never had that number during the whole 
siege, and there were critical intervals in the ex[5iration of 
enlistments, and the dilatory substitution of ncAv recruits, 
when he had not even 4,000. On an extreme emergency 
he would rely for a few days on the militia. This Avas the 
situation of the commander in full view of a vigilant 

10 



74: CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSAUY OE TlIK 

oiiomy, whose Ibri-e "was ostiniated at 11,500, thoroughly 
olliceivd, oqviippoil, discipliued and suppliod, and uith an 
auxiliary Hoot in the bay and rivers. 

The huk of jjowder in the patriot camp Avas a matter 
of such anxiety to Washington, that even his cttbrts to 
obtrtiu it, by any shift and fr(.)m any quarter, were most 
jealously disguisetl, that the enemy might not come to a 
full knowledg-e of the fact. Yet it Avould seem as if this 
deticiency must have been well known in Boston through 
deserters or tories. The Massachusetts Assembly, too, by 
a ivsolve of Aug. 17, 1775, had "recommended to the 
inhabitants of this colony not to fire a gun at beast, bird 
or mark, without real necessity therefoi*." Precautions 
had been taken to have the live stock of the neighboring 
towns driven back into the country, and a rendezvous had 
been designated for the provincials in the esent of their 
lines being broken. For Washington had resolved to 
hold his gi'ound and to strengthen his works, making as 
close an approach to the enemy as the natural features of 
the environs would permit. As soon as his eye had mas- 
tered the panorama, his thought and purpose rested upon 
those unoccupied southei'n heights on which his decisive 
batteries were at last planted. His all-engrossing work 
Avas to eftect the paramount object of bringing the pro- 
vincial forces inuler a continental, or general establish- 
ment, Avith corresponding commissions for ofHcers. 

During the first half of the siege of Boston, Washing- 
ton was in dread suspense and apprehension of an assault 
from the enemy, AAiiile he Avas so utterly unprepared to 
meet it. Through the last half of the siege he chafed, 
with somoAvhat better preparation, undei- the impatience of 



EVACUATION' OF BOSTOX. tO 

a constrained inactivity, because tlie enemy did not come 
out against him, and his own officers would not counsel a 
venture against them — which he twice proposed, once by 
boats, and once upon the ice. He was cheered in Octo- 
ber by a visit and conference with a committee from the 
Contmental Congress, with the sagacious Franklin at the 
head of it, to whom the town of his birth must have pre- 
sented itself from outside in a strange plight. The letters 
of the commander prove that his firmness never came so 
near faltering as when he was forced to realize, as autumn 
approached, that he might have to pass the winter and 
wait for the sprmg just where and as he was. The enemy 
would not bring the issue to a decision, and it was not 
wise for him to force one. With most anxious care he at 
once took measures for covering and warming the soldiers 
through the severities and the dismal shadows of a ^NTew 
England winter on those bleak hills. MidAvay in that 
winter the enlistments of a large portion of his men 
would expire; and some of them, in their straits or un- 
easiness, were for anticipating then* release. He was 
aVjle, however, to send forth a detachment for an enter- 
prise in Canada. Transports with aimed vessels were 
occasionally seen going out of the harbor, and Wash- 
ington was in painful perplexity as to their destina- 
tion. Thus he writes to Congress at the opening of 
the year 1776: "It is not in the pages of history, 
perhaps, to furnish a case like ours. To maintain 
a post Avithin musket-shot of the enemy for six months 
together without []>owder], and at the same time to dis- 
band one army and recruit another, within that distance 
of twenty odd British regiments, is more, pi-oljaljly, than 



76 CENTEIOflAL ANNH'ERSAEY OF THE 

ever was attempted." These are the words of a calm re- 
serve, in xitteraiice, which were to be read before many 
listeners. But thoy hide the secret distress which bur- 
dened his spirit. ' This he occasionally discloses con- 
fidentially to his nearest friend and secretary, Joseph 
Heed, thus: "I have many an unhappy hour when all 
ai'ound me are wrapped in sleep." All the while the 
country, conscious of having serious ends in view, and of 
having- made ettbrt and sacrifice, was daily expecting some 
great movement to be ventured, and complaints reached 
AVashington of his supposed inactivity and indecision. 
He dared not silence these complaints by revealing wliat 
was fully laiown only to himself of his alarming exposiu*e, 
deficiencies and wcalaiess. He wrote to Eeed that the 
same means used to conceal his real situation from the 
enemy concealed it also from his friends, and that he had 
been obliged to avail himself of art to hide it from his own 
oflicers. He was cheered, near the close of the year 1775, 
by the arrival, Dec. 11, of Mrs. Washington, with her son, 
Mr. Custis and wife, Avhose society aflbrded him moments 
of solace. In the middle of January, in a council of 
officers, attended, at Washington's request, by John 
Adams, the General -scry earnestly urged the importance 
of an attack on the enemy before the arrival of reinforce- 
ments; but the council, agreeing in the dcsu-ability of the 
movement, pronounced our resources to be wholly inad- 
equate. On the twenty-fourth of the month, A>'ashington 
wrote to Congress, " IN'o man upon earth wishes more 
ardently to destroy the nest in Boston than I do. ^o 
person would be willing to go greater lengths than I shall 
to accomplish it, if it shall be thought advisable ; but if we 



EVACUATION" OP BOSTOX. 77 

have neither powder to bombard with, nor ice to pass on, 
we shall be in no better situation than we have been in all 
the year; we shall be worse, because their works are 
stronger." 

These are but snatches and fragments out of the rehearsal 
of those incidents, and that i)eriod which marked the in- 
vestment of Boston. The signal quality of the time and 
scene was, that it Avas the school of training and discipline 
for the patriot army, and emphatically so for its com- 
mander. He had to defer to, and take advice from, a body 
which had no authority to require or exact the conditions 
needful to meet the wants of their General. Practically, 
there was committed to him, individually, dining the year 
preceding the Declaration of Independence, the enormous 
task of bringing the loose material of the provincial forces 
daily fluctuating before him, on a continental estabUsh- 
ment, and of holding them subject to terms required Iw an 
authority which any one of them might challenge as 
merely assumed. It was for him to devise and to dispose 
all the aiTangements and details necessary to effect that 
purpose. It was for bun to abate and reconcile the 
partialities and jealousies of officers and men; to exact 
rigid svibordination; to enforce a stiff military routine and 
observance in the camp with all punctilios and for- 
malities, and a stern prohibition of the familiarity and 
levity that had marked the relations between those Avho 
were to give and those who were to obey orders. It was 
for him to exercise a lynx-eyed watchfulness against sur- 
prises, treacheries and disasters ; to be constantly planning 
and accomplishing new defences and safer means for 
annoying the enemy. His advanced works Avere now 



78 CEXTEKS7AL AlSTflYEESAKT OF THE 

SO close to those of the British, that the beUigerents were 
within musket-shot of each other. The naked eye or spy- 
glass could take note of the movements in either camp or 
garrison. For a long time the provincials had had to bear 
a frequent cannonading from the enemy, without being 
able to return it, harmless as it was. The new year had 
brought some siipplies, which, >vith their advanced works, 
allowed the provincials to retaliate. 

The great lesson Avhieh "Washington had to teach to 
each individual, officer or private, in his conunaud, was to 
learn to abate his own personal mdependence, that he 
might secure the independence of his country. There, 
too, he learned hoAv to deal with men, Avith friends as well 
as with enemies — Avith hiunan nature, in all its workings 
of impulse and motive, its nobleness and meanness. And, 
as his order-book gives abundant and impressive evidence, 
he Avas thoughtful of those strengthening or enfeebling 
agencies aa hich act upon health and A'irtue. He counselled 
cleanliness, high and pure morality, and the devoutness 
and reA^erence of religion in sentiment and observance. 
As the crisis of the situation was near, while forbidding 
cards in the camp, he adA^ised a serious preparation of mind 
as a security against coAvardice. 

One appreciative Avord, at least, is due to the letters 
Avhich Washington AATOte at this tune to Congress, Avhile 
meeting all the stern and dismal conditions of the service 
to which they had called him, and in Avhich then poAver 
and their resources could do so little either to dii-ect or to 
aid him. It is a small thing to say of those letters that they 
are remarkable productions for one untrained by literary 
culture. They are often strikingly felicitous in the choice 



EVACrATIOX OF BOSTOX. 79 

of words, and in the form of expression. Biit beyond tliis, 
their tone and purport, then- dii'ectness, sunplicity and dig- 
nity of sentiment, express the self-respect of the writer, and 
a marvellously just apprehension of the relation in which he 
stood to the body which he addressed. He, at least, owed 
allegiance to Congress, if no one beside him did in the 
whole country. The agitations and excitements Avhich 
vexed his own spirit never passed into those letters. 
They are passionless, free from murmurs, complaints, cen- 
sorionsness and sharp invectives. Yet they never sacrifice 
force to tameness. They deal with facts; are concise; with 
no cloudiness or mystification of meaning; with no insinua- 
tions or implications beyond the assertion. He could be 
urgent with Congress without being impatient. He could 
make suggestions with deference. When, on rare occa- 
sions, he offered adAace, or even remonstrance, he did not 
disguise the intent in the fonn of it, but wrote it for Avhat 
it was, frankly, boldly; always making allowance for delays 
and indecisions incident to the composition and limited 
power of Congress, — as yet only an ad^-isory body, neither 
homogeneous nor harmonious, but feeling its way in an 
Tuiexplored course. 

And so his letters to individuals, official or private, when 
giving instructions or information, were direct, clear, 
positive, cautious — as the occasion required. "When he 
had to mediate between sensitive parties, or to complain, 
or to rebuke, his moderation held in check all vehemence 
or temper, and his own dignity was suggestive of the 
grace of it to others. His most approved form of censure 
Avas that which made an offender apportion his own sen- 
tence. All the while burdened with work for liis pen, 



80 CENTENlSTAIi AJOSnVERSAET OI' THE 

frequently lacking a confidential secretary, he was writing 
almost daily letters of instruction and detail to the mana- 
ger of his land-estates. A reference to these homely letters 
of thrift and husbandry would not be in place here, ex- 
cept as they reveal a winning trait m his character. His 
emphatic direction is, that the hospitalities of his home, and 
especially its free dispensings of benevolence and money 
to the needy, shall in no wise fail or slacken. One ether 
engrossing anxiety was crowded into the burdens of the 
worn and worried chief in this early stage of a struggle^ 
which was to decide whether the halter or the wreath 
would be the emblem of his fate. "Wliile watching the 
beleaguered foe in Boston, he had to keep in thought a 
whole continent, with its coasts, and towns and people, 
and to prepare to meet the enemy where he might strike 
next. No graver's work on a map was ever more sharply 
cut than that which Avas wrought in his mind. 

THE INVESTED TOWN, SOLDIERS AND INHABITANTS. 

While civilians in local and continental councils, and 
soldiers in the wide-stretched camp so anxiously watched 
over by "Washington, were thus taking care for the pat- 
riot cause, the invested town of Boston, alike to those 
outside of it as to those within it, was the object of pain- 
ful and absorbing interest. From the General down to 
the humblest menial in his train, there was not a man that 
did not sooner or later realize that he had come on a fool- 
ish and bootless errand. The exposure of their situation, 
and the constant apprehension of an assault, required 
unceasing watchfulness, and the construction almost week 
bv week of some new defences. Their sufferings from 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 81 

the prevalence of foul diseases, the numbei' of the sick 
and Avounded among them, and the scarcity of fresh pro- 
visions, vegetables and fuel, became, at one crisis, very 
serious and alarming. Ghastly efforts were made by the 
officers during the ■winter to amuse themselves with 
dances, theatricals, and a masquerade. The old South 
Church, given up to a riding-school, afforded shows of 
horsemanship, as seen by festive spectators from its east- 
ern gallery. Burgoyne got up a play to be acted in 
Faneuil Hall, which was, however, rudely arrested in its 
performance by the rattling of shot from the nearest pro- 
vincial battery. The remnant of patriotic inhabitants in 
the toAvn were grievously distressed. Some sought in 
vain the privilege of leaving it. Others, who resolved to 
stay and wait the catastrophe, were strictly watched, lest 
they sjiould communicate with the besiegers. The tory 
element too, natives and refugees from the country, 
showed the excitements of an intense bitterness and of a 
craven trepidation. The General summoned them to 
organize into an association, as a town-guard, armed and 
receiving rations. They became a serious burden to him, 
as, knowing well Avhat treatment they would receive from 
their outraged countrjanen, they demanded special pri\a- 
leges during the siege, and the first thought and fa^-or of 
the commander at the Evacuation. Gage was called home 
in October, eml^arking on the tenth, having received flat- 
tering addresses from the tories on his departure. He 
reported himself in London, ^NTov. 14. Burgoyne followed 
him in December. Howe was left in command. Before 
Gage went away he had allowed more of the inhabitants 
to leave the town, though under severer restrictions. In 



82 CEXTEJSTNIAL AXXIVERSART OF THE 

November and December nearl^^ five hundred men, women 
and children, in a most pitiable condition, Avere put ashore 
at Chelsea and Point Shirley, and the provincials thought 
the design was to spread the small-jiox among them. 

But all the other annoyances and inflictions borne by 
the besieged were endurable by proud and self-respecting 
Bi'itish soldiers, in comparison with the humiliation and 
mortification of their position. Those whom they had 
sneered at and insulted as a rabble of unarmed country- 
men and cowards whom the smell of the red-coats' pow- 
der woidd tame into loyalty, were cooping them up on 
two small peninsulas, defying their vengeance, taunting 
their conceit, and, with scant charges of powder, retm-n- 
ing them their own balls. General Gage, assuming that 
the few disabled men that had been seized in the battle at 
Charlestown were in no sense prisoners of war, but felons 
" destined to the cord," put them into jail in Boston, with 
some of the citizens whom he suspected, and gave them 
jail diet. With dignified remonstrance Washington wrote 
to him, as he did afterwards to Howe, that we had some 
of their friends, as yet forbearingly dealt with, on whom 
retaliation could and would be visited. 

With a purpose of making a raid into the country, 
Gage had written for heavy remforcements, with ord- 
nance, wagons, horses and supplies. These were so 
delayed, so niggardly furnished, and so insufficient, that 
officers and men began to complain that the ministry had 
forgotten them, had brought them into peril and disgrace, 
and then abandoned them. Yet, as these supplies, from 
time to time, sailed in between our capes, our adroit 
skippers and 'longshoremen, intrepid and watchful, extern- 



ETACUATIOX OF BOSTOX. 83 

poriziug their schooners and whale-boats into private 
vessels of war till they provided themselves AAnth better 
ones, as prizes, began the business which afterwards 
proved vastly rewarding. They turned over a large pro- 
jjortiou of the burden of the transports, oi'dnance, arms, 
powder, and all sorts of valuables, to the jDrovincials, who 
needed them quite as much as did the British. The Pro- 
vincial and Continental Congresses had both authorized 
the necessary measures for naval warfare with vessels of 
marque and reprisal. The pine-tree flag and a code of 
signals were at once adopted. At the end of Xovember, 
the stanch Commodore Manly took into Cape Ann the 
British ordnance brig "Xancy," so rich in her cargo for 
us and so grudged by the enemy, that AVashington, 
apprehending that a sturdy effort might be made to 
reclaim her, sent doA\Ti foiu* companies to protect her 
stores. Among these were 2,000 muskets — our General 
had just that number of men without any — 100,000 flints, 
30,000 round-shot, more than thirty tons of musket-shot, 
eleven mortar-beds, and a brass mortar weighing nearly 
3,000 pounds, to which " Old Put," helped by a bottle 
of rum, gave the name " Congress." A bold movement of 
Gen. Thomas, in Roxbur}', had narrowed the enemy's lines 
on the Xeck. 

It is marvellous to realize how comfortably and even 
lavishly the slender resoiu'ces of our ovra province for 
clothing, equipping, and feeding fighting men were rein- 
forced from English and Irish armories, magazines, flocks, 
coal-pits, and wine and beer vaults. And all this while 
British officers were writing home bitter complaints of 
their starved rations and mean food. From correspond- 



84 CEXTENXIAL AXXrV'ERSAEY OF THE 

ence and documents wliicli have come to light in recent 
3^ears Ave learn of the councils, advices, instructions, and 
half-formed plans, looking to the voluntary withdrawal 
by the British General from his inhospitable quarters. 
But the difficulty Avas about the going aAvay, the getting 
out, and the getting off. He could not divide his force, 
and he had not sufficient shipping in Avhich to remove 
men and propert3^ TNlien this Avas finally accomplished, 
as Ave shall see, it Avas by the allowance of the proAincials, 
and on the score of a consideration. 

AVhen all these humiliations of the besieged army 
became known in England, chagrin and ridicule diA-ided 
about equally the tone of the comments. HoAve's letters 
to Lord Dartmouth in ]!^OA'eml3er and December betray 
real alarm. He Avould leave Boston if he had tonnage 
enough. The questions, criticisms and censures uttered in 
Parliament Avere bitter and taunting from the oiDposition, 
obstinate and defiant from the ministry. On !N^oA*ember 1, 
Burke said of the army, the rebels " coop it up, besiege it, 
destroy it, crush it. Yom* officers are SAvept off by their 
rifles, if they shoAv their noses." Col. Barre said, " The}^ 
bm-n eA^en the light-house under the nose of the fleet, and 
carry off the men sent to repair it." With the barb of his 
keenest irony, Horace Walpole wrote to his clerical corre- 
spondent, August 7, 1775, "Mrs. Britannia orders her 
senate to j)roclaim Ajnerica a contment of coAvards, and 
A'ote it should be starved unless it Avould drink tea Avith 
her. She sends her only anny to be besieged in one of 
her toAvns, and half her fleet to besiege the terra Jirma; but 
orders her army to do nothing, in hopes that the Ameincan 
Senate in PhUadelphia Avill be so frightened at the British 



EVACUATIOX OF BOSTOX. 85 

army being besieged in Boston, that it will sue for peace." 
He wrote to Conway, " We have thrown a pebble at a 
mastiff, and ai"e surprised it was not frightened." The 
ministers resolved to send enormous reinforcements and 
supplies, and at such mighty cost that the people of 
Britain have not jet finished paying for them. There 
were 5,000 oxen, 14,000 sheejj, etc., with hay and vinegar, 
oats, beans, flour, beer, coal, and even fagots. Extor- 
tionate freights, delays and disasters impeded the trans- 
portation, and the ocean tracks showed many of the dead 
animals floating. However, our privateers had a fair share 
in the spoil. 

Towards the end of the siege a flag, with drum and 
trumpet, went every Tuesday to the Roxbury lines, to 
aftbrd opportunities for such intercourse, conversation 
with friends, or the exchange of letters, or for the en- 
trance or exit of individuals, as was allowed on special 
favor, or for a money consideration. In old family cab- 
inets and antiquarian repositories there are extant, in rich 
abundance and variety, some time-stained papers, relating 
all sorts of private and public mcidents which transpired 
in Boston during those dreadful months. Most of the 
letters that passed by the flag are, of course, written as 
from the depths of wretchedness, and reproduce their ago- 
nies m the reader of them. Some of the papers, however, 
have a strange levity and jollity. AVe have a few diaries 
and scraps from the pens of resolute or timid patriots, men 
and women, Avho, by comjiidsion or free-will, stayed by the 
dear old home, through all its woes. The letters that got 
out of it by stealth or allowance unite the sundered heart- 
strings of the members of separated families, or report the 



86 CENTENNIAL ANNI\':ERSARY OF THE 

state of remnants of wasting property. Wc read the 
household endearments in pet epithets and the breathings 
of piety; the announcement that this one has died, and 
the question if that one is alive ; the homely report of the 
state of the wardrobe of man, woman or child; lamenta- 
tions over the empty pantry, the cold hearths, or the cost 
of the poorest food. There is a constrained reticence about 
certain matters in these letters, which is itself richly sug- 
gestive. But there is the sternest reality in them all, of 
consuming anxiety, the dreary detail of sleeplessness, 
grief, unsolaced love, apprehensions and alarms of all pos- 
sible miseries not yet actual, and summaries of the work 
of poverty, pestilence, and military rule. One of the in- 
habitants, holding large property, for the protection of 
which he had i-emained in town, in writing to a friend in 
Philadelphia about the scarcity of food and fuel, grimly 
adds, that it is almost impossible for the bereaved to 
procure boards for the "underground tenements of their 
departed friends." 

The British commandei-, besides using one of the meet- 
ing-houses for a riding-school, one for a stable, and two 
for the storage of provender, and removing the steeple of 
another on the charge that it had been used for signalling, 
had ordered the destruction of the Old North Meeting- 
house — a solid timber structure, hardened by a century 
— and of a hundred wooden dwellings, for fuel. The 
soldiers had made away with the sills of wharves, with 
fences, orchards and trees, including, as a special spite, 
the Liberty Ti-ee. The officers had taken possession of 
the best private houses of the town, and their considera- 
tion as gentlemen preserved such buildings and their 



EVACUATIOK OF BOSTON. 87 

contents from violence and pillage. On the approach of 
winter many of the troops had been sheltei-ed in deserted 
dwellings and warehouses, which had been emptied of 
the effects belonging to absent citizens. The furnitui-e 
and goods were mostly lost to the owners. The Common 
was burrowed over with pits by the soldiers, while small- 
pox, dysentery, scurvy, and other ailments induced a large 
mortality among them. The dead were buried in trenches 
at the foot of the Common, which thus gave a new place 
to the town for interments. Letters from officers and 
soldiers, written to friends in England, are equally sug- 
gestive in the communications made by them during the 
discomforts of their inglorious garrison life. 

It is fairly supposable, under conditions that may be 
]-eadily defined, that the siege of Boston might have been 
conducted to a result securing the capitulation of the 
whole British force of men and ships. They might have 
been cut off from supplies through the only channel open 
to them, if the harbor could have been closed by a few 
sunken obstructions, and batteries well served could have 
been planted on opposite points and headlands. Plans, 
indeed, were proposed for seizing and destroying the 
Castle, and securing that result. Mr. Quincy, of Brain- 
tree, and others pressed upon Washington their scliemes 
for effecting it. The provincials had done many daring 
feats on the islands and harbor promontories, which they 
had stripped and desolated under the guns of the war- 
vessels. They would have done their part in shutting up 
the harbor; but Washington had not the heavy ordnance 
and powder which the enterprise demanded, nor could he 
weaken his force and battei-ies on the main. Feasible as 



bo CENTENNIAL ANNIVEUSAKY OF THE 

(lie undertaking' seemed, the means and resources were 
lacking-. Nor would the capitulation of that British 
army, shut in and starved, astounding as the report of it 
would have been, have had a decisive influence on the 
struggle. When, more than a year and a half afterwards, 
Bin'goyuc surrendered an army originally nearly as large 
as that in Boston, and our foreign alliances wei'e by that 
event scciu'ed, Britain resolved to tr}' still once more. 

Yet during the latter part of the siege, while Congress 
was still temporizing, it seems to have been thought that 
the Avhole struggle, so far as open warfare was concerned, 
might be concentrated and terminated here. The ord- 
nance brought by Knox, with such immense toil, over 
frozen lakes and through forests, from Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, with shells from the king's stores in New 
York, and other spoils from the prizes, had given actual 
strength and inspiration of high courage and hopefulness 
to the provincials. They felt sure that they had the 
enemy wheie tliey could keep him, unless he chose to 
float away. 

The British General wrote to Lord Dartmouth that 
Boston Avas "the most disadvantageous place for all 
operations;'' and Washington wrote to Congress that 
" the siege was as close a one as any on earth can be." 
That was another of the few points in which both parties 
were in accord. Admiral Schuldam came into the hai'bor 
on New Year's day to take the place of Graves, there 
having been altercations between the latter and the Gen- 
eral, ai-isiug Irom comi)laint8, at the lack of support and 
supplies, which the amny had raised against the fleet. 
Schuldam brought with him copies of the king's "gra- 



EVACUATION OF BOSTOX. 89 

cious speech," full of oljstinatc resolution. A mass of 
these precious documents were sent out to be dispersed 
through the patriot army, where the\' were received with 
contempt and ridicule. Washington wrote to Joseph 
Keed that before the papers came he '' had hoisted the 
Union flag, in compliment to the United Colonies," and 
its appearance was rashly interpreted in Boston as a 
token of submission and delight at the aforesaid ^'gracious 
speech." The flag, as you see it among the decorations 
of this hall, showed, without as yet any spangling of 
stars, thii'teen stripes of red on a white field, with the 
united red and white crosses of St. George and St. 
Andrew on a blue ground in the eornei'. 

The long-drawn issue between the besiegers and the 
besieged was to have its close in a compromise, as con- 
cerned the belligerents, yet in a triumph, the joy and 
satisfaction of which human language would be weak to 
exjiress, for the families of Boston. It has often been 
regarded as among the fatuities which characterized so 
much of the conduct of the war here by the British 
ministry and army, — alike in its efforts and in its over- 
sights, — that its commanders had not learned to improve, 
on the heights on the south side of Boston, the lesson 
taught them by those on the north side. Why had they 
not possessed themselves of the elevations nearest them 
in Dorchester? But the query admits of two answers, as 
the reasons for action or neglect were balanced. The 
British seem to liave given over an attempt to rush out 
into the country in any direction, as, if they got out, it 
would only be to hold one hill against a hundred others. 

12 



90 CENTENTSriAL ^^JSTNIVEESAEY OF HIE 

THE HEIGHTS OF DORCHESTER. 

A week after "Washington took command, a Council 
of "War had decided not to attempt to get possession of 
these heights, nor to oppose the enemy if they should 
occupy them. But the commander had from the first 
kept his eye and thought upon them as entering largely 
into the decision of the result. He had resolved, too, 
that a resolute efibrt should be made in one direction or 
another to di-ive off the enemy before the expected rein- 
forcements, known to be on the ocean, should arrive. 
His measures may or may not have been quickened by 
rumors of the design of a movement on the part of the 
enemy. 

It is to be remembered that, though all through the 
siege the combatants were supposed to obtain a general, 
and even minute, knowledge of each other's condition, 
situation and plans, thi-ough such adventurous persons as 
could evade the guards, or such as were allowed to leave 
or enter the town, all such information was to be received 
with lai-ge allowances for exaggeration or deception. On 
February 13 about 500 men under Colonel Leslie, with 
grenadiers and light infantry under Colonel Musgrave, 
had crossed to Dorchester Neck, destroyed some scattered 
buildings there, and taken prisoners the guard of six, 
getting away before they could be interfei'ed with. There 
were three elevations in that part of Dorchester now 
known as South Boston which were involved in the 
plans of "Washington. The old works upon them, re- 
newed in the war of 1812, have disappcai'cd, and the 
original features of the site have been almost wholly 



EVACUATIOJf OF BOSTOX. 91 

obliterated by the hand of improvement. Crossing from 
Roxbury on the edge of the tide-water marshes by Dor- 
chester JS^eck, two summits, near the present reservoir and 
the Blind Asylum, offered sites which commanded a part 
of Boston and of the harbor. Below these, and closer to 
the water, nearest to Boston at Roxbury ISTeck, was 
another elevation, then called !N^ook's Hill, the site, at 
present, of the Lawrence School-house. The plans 
and preparations of "Washington for possessing these 
heights were so deliberate and thorough, so carefully 
studied in the minutest detail, so conditioned upon alter- 
native and co-operating movements of his own, and upon 
the action of the enemy, as to prove with what patient 
and brooding study he had wrought them out. There 
was in them no instigation of a surprise, no occasions of 
hurry and afterthought, no lack of any provision needful 
for success. Cheerfully, heartily, and without any with- 
holding of needful aid, were his plans and their details 
advanced by all on whom he relied. Many elemental 
influences which were baffling to the enemy favored him. 
His chief difficulty lay in the fact that the ground on the 
heights was frozen to the depth of eighteen inches, and 
the next was the exposure of Dorchester I^eck, over 
which his men and means must pass. The utmost dili- 
gence had been previously used by Colonel Mifflin and 
others to provide these means — three or four hundred 
ox-teams and carts, large quantities of fascines, chan- 
deliers, bundles of screwed hay to protect the Neck and 
to aid in the construction of'the defences, with barrels 
fastened together and filled with stones, sand and gravel, 
for rolling down from the declivities to break the I'anks of 



92 CENTENNIAT. AMNIVEKSAUY OF THE 

the assailants. On the evcninj;- of Monday, March 4, a 
covering- and a working party, making 2,000 men, under 
General Thomas, started on the enterjirise, as qiiietly as 
possible, the direction of the wind also favoring the 
secrecy of their motions. It was also a part of the plan 
to engage the attention of the enemy by a vigorous 
cannonade on the other side of Boston, liy ten o'clock 
at night the men had raised a fort, proof against small 
arms and grape-shot, on each of the two farthest eleva- 
tions, menacing respectively the town, and the Castle and 
vessels. 

It was a mild, clear night for the season; warm work 
neutralized the chill air. A full moon overhead was ac- 
companied by a haze settling over the town and lowlands, 
and veiling the enterprise from the sentries of the enemy. 
A relief party came on at thi-ee o'clock in the morning, of 
Tuesday. Xot till some time after daybreak were the 
works disclosed to the British, and when Gen. Howe 
gazed at the spectacle, he is said to have declared, in his 
amazement, that the rebels had done more in a night than 
his whole army would have accomplished in months. He 
was at once waiued by the Admiral that the completion of 
the forts would require him to withdi-aw his vessels from 
the inner harbor. Of course the rebels nuist be dislodged, 
or he nnist evacuate the town. The day was the now 
historie tlfth of March, and as it was expected that it would 
repeat some of the scenes acted on Bunker's Hill, the 
word passed from Washington as a rallying cry, bidding 
the i)roviiK'ials i-emembei- the day of the " bloody massacre." 
Peter Thatcher duly delivered the oration at Watertown. 
Every movement of the enemy was rigidly watched, and 



EVACUATIOX OF BOSTOX. 93 

the bystem of signalling arranged by "Washington com- 
municated information and directions through his whole 
lines. His arrangement was that if enough of the Bi-itish 
left Boston to storm the new works, as Avould warrant the 
venture, 4,000 men would emijark at the mouth of the 
Charles, in two divisions, under Sullivan and Greene, the 
whole commanded by Putnam. Sullivan's division was to 
have landed at the Powder-house, to take Beacon Hill, and 
Mt. lloram; while Greene's, landing near Barton's Point, 
should take that, and then joining the other division should 
force the enem^^'s line inside at the Xeck, and let in a 
detachment from Koxbury. A strong fleet of floating 
batteries was to have preceded the other boats. "Washing- 
ton seems to have been disappointed that the thwarting 
course adopted by the enemy had not brought his scheme 
to the trial. 

Gen. Howe, after a council of war, decided to make an 
immediate attempt to dislodge the provincials. The ex- 
citement and stir in the town were plainly visible to 
those who were so interested in watching every movement. 
The testimony of trustworthy observers then in the town, 
as afterwards given to their friends, was, that it was with 
sunken spirits, without alacrity or enthusiasm, and with 
the memory of the slaughter on the heights of Charles- 
town, that the red-coats, in force amounting to 2,400, 
under Lord Perc\', marched to the wharves to take boats 
for embai-king on the transports. The provincials eagerly 
awaited the movement, supposing the enemy would sweep 
up behind the heiglits and at once commence the assault. 
This, however, was not the design. The enemy dropped 
down to the Castle, intending to make the assault on 



94 OKNTKNNIAL ANNIVKKSAUY OK 'I'llK 

AVi'diiesday, llic (Illi. ^riic (ri'sluMiiiij;- ol" llir wind drove 
tlircc ol"llu' li-Miisports on slu)r(' on ( Jovcrnor's lsl;nid,;nid 
a viok'nl U'nipeisl, with rain, lx\i;-inning at. night, and con- 
tinning tlu-ongli the next, dajjlrnstrated tlie pnrpose. In the 
meanwhile the provineialw, in jspile ol" tlie storni, eonlinned 
to strengthun their woi-l<s, so as to assnre the enemy of the 
hopele.ssness of attem^jting to carry tht-ni. 'Flie militia of 
till! neighboring towns, called ont for a few ilays to ensnre 
the cnteri)riso, i)erformed all the iieedfnl incidental work. 
Howe, after another council of war, on the Olh, decided to 
evacnate the town; at the same tinn" he received (K's[)ati'hes 
approving of liisown suggestion that lu' should remain till 
he "was reinforced. Congress, in Decemhir, had given 
^Vasliington authority to destroy Boston if tlie enemy could 
in no other way be dislodged. The President, Hancock, 
in transmitting this vote, gave his own approval, tliougli ho 
would be a chief snlVerer in loss of property. 

THE EVAriTATU)N. 

Hut the ])atriots were not compelli'd to desolate their 
OAVii ca])ital, neither did the enemy within it wish that its 
bombardment should include themselves. Washington 
would not harm the town if the enemy would leave it, but 
he did not mean that they should get (mt of it and then 
burn it behind them. He was still I'lylng the enemy w'ith 
vigorous blows, and his elaborate plans were so matured 
and threatening that the ]5ritish forces would have suf- 
fered some extreme disaster, had not a comi)i'oiiiiso been 
availi'd of, which was acct'ptable to both pni'tii's, though 
deeply mortilying to the enemy. Through the aid of the 
selectmen of lioston in conference with British ollicers, an 



EVACUATIOX OF JiOSTO.V. 95 

implied covenant — llioiigli without Hi^^natiirc or seal to 
ratify it — was efieeted at the Koxlnii-y linos, by the tacit 
assent — unpledged, however, of Washington — that if 
the Hi'itish could bo allowed, unmolested, a reasonable 
time for ])acking and eniljarking, they would leave the 
town unharmed. The inlbrmal pledge was accepted, and 
substantially complied with. The i)rovincials might rea- 
sonably have remonstrated and demanded remuneration 
Jbr the enoi'rnous amount of plunder of every kind, furni- 
ture and goods taken from the houses and stoi'cs, 
which wei'c broken into and ])illaged by some of the 
troops and sailors and the meanest class of tlic tories. 
These outi-ages continued for a week, in spite of the proc- 
lamations of the General threatening instant death upon 
any one detected in plundering or firing a building. But 
on the last days of his stay ho himself ordered all woollen 
and linen goods to be seized for the use of his army. The 
packing up was a huri'ied and critical operation, as, on the 
last day of the siege, "Washington had succeeded in jtlant- 
ing elfective works on Nook's Ilill, the nearest elevation to 
Boston, from which ho could rake JJoston Xeck inside and 
distress the enemy and their shipping. It was at this 
moment that the British General was made to realize what 
an incumbrance and nuisance he had to dispose of in the 
tories, who now hung so despaii'ingly on his hands. Al- 
most demented with dismay and flight, they inij)lorod to 
be put into the vessels first, witfi all their household goods 
and property. Washington wrote to his brother Augus- 
tine, that some of these had confessed that, "if they 
thought the most abject submission would have procured 
them peace, they never would have stirred from (ho town. 



96 CEKTENlSriAL, AKNIVEKSAKT OF THE 

By all accounts there never existed a more miserable 
set of beings than these wretched creatures are. They 
choose to commit themselves to the mercy of the waves, 
at a tempestuous season, rather than meet their offended 
countrymen." 

But several of the shrewdest of these tories had, by 
money or fovor, managed to secure a passage to England, 
or the AVest Indies, before the catastrophe came. Then 
there were large numbers of the sick and of women and 
children to be provided for. The king's property also, 
with all the accumulations of military supplies, camp 
equipage and stores, was, as far as possible, to be re- 
moved, or, at least, destroyed. The shipping was wholly 
insufiicient, out of trim, without food and water, and the 
March gales Avere threatening. The wharves witnessed a 
hurried confusion, as boats with their human or other 
freight were passing to the vessels in the channel. 
Masses of valuables Avere destroyed, broken, burned, 
thrown overboard, while many unserviceable craft were 
scuttled. The Castle must be dismantled, but the harbor 
must be guarded to warn off the transports and reinforce- 
ments which were on -their way to the town. Still the 
enemy were compelled to leave behind them ordnance, 
goods, and miscellaneous property, which were of great 
value, and which were put to excellent service by the 
provincials. Gen. Gage's chariot, tipped off of a Avharf, 
was not especially of use. Thei-e was just enough of 
play from the provincial batteries to keep the enemy 
mindful of the value and speed of time. The streets 
wei'e barricaded and the inhabitants were warned to keep 
quiet in their dwellings while critical operations were in 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 97 

progress. It would seem that only a contrary wind kept 
tlie enemy from leaving on Saturday; at any rate, there 
Avas leisui'e enough for the perpetrating of more mischief 
and oixtrago. They chose the Puritan Saturday evening, 
the midnight and the early hours of Sunday, for their 
departure. Keen-set eyes were watching for tlie moment 
when the guard should be withdrawn from the gates at 
the Neck. At sunrise the enemy were afloat in their 
dismantled and encumbered vessels, and those which 
carried the tories were the first to reach and leave the 
outer harbor. As keen eyes as were any on the land 
were also watching from Yankee decks between the 
Capes, to pick up any stragglers. Officers, men and 
marines, in number nearly nine thousand; women; and 
eleven hundred tories and their families, found their 
crowded quarters in seventy-eight ships and transports. 
But would they really sail away, or linger to send back 
their Parthian vengeance from their guns, or desolate 
the shore towns? And if they sailed away, whither would 
they go? Only after ten days was Washington relieved 
of a part of his anxiety by the final departure of the fleet, 
leaving only a guard. To reduce the rest of his anxiety he 
had already despatched a force to New York. The harbor 
was not wholly opened till the provincials, by works 
constructed on the shores and headlands, drove away the 
last sentinel ship in June, just two years after the Port 
Bill had closed it. Then our little navy had a revel in its 
prize-takings. 



98 CENTENNIAL, ANNIVERSAEY OF THE 

nOSTON RECOVEUEI). 

The old town was again in the hands of its cilizens and 
proteotors. This was a glorious day, a luuuh'od ycai's ago, 
but it had its deei) sliadows and its dark Ibai's. Thci'c was 
no pai-ade of pomp, or procession, or festivity, or light 
glee, nor much public show of joy, at its first repossession. 
Charlestown was u complete desolation of mournful 
chimney-stacks, while some Quaker sentries stood mock- 
ingly in its abandoned fortifications. There were foul in- 
fections left in Boston, which even the raw air of the spring 
could not drive away, and disease long continued its 
ravages here. Impediments and tortiu'e traps were set in 
the way of those who should first rush in. The town was 
serrated with military works. Many of its homes were 
emptied, defaced and {X)! luted, and its warehouses had 
been rificd. There was a general aspect of devastation, 
though the hand of violence had not wrought so complete 
a wreck as had been feared. The remnant of its liberty- 
loving people showed, by their pinched and haggard coun- 
tenances and their wasted fi-ames, what they had been 
enduring from alarms and frights, from sleeplessness, from 
cold and hunger. Cowering here and there were indi- 
viduals or groups, whose sympathies or sei-vice had been 
with the retiring foe, and who were either too poor and 
mean to be taken away with them, or who hoped to make 
their peace by some excuse or subserviency. These 
were soon taken in hand, a part for pity and slow forgive- 
ness, while the worst of them changed places with the last 
tenants of the jail. The gates were unbarred at Koxbury 
Neck, by Col. Learned, on kSiinda} morning, and a body of 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 99 

five hundred soldiers came in there, while Putnam brought 
over as many from Cambridge to the foot of the Common 
— care having been taken to select such as had had the 
small-pox. Washington, on the next day, came over for a 
brief visit, in a boat from Dorchester, with James Bowdoin, 
Jr., who took the chief to dine with him at his Grandfather 
Erving's. It is recorded that the greatest luxury which 
the town afforded for their banquet was " a piece of salted 
beef 

On the 19th, the day after this visit, "Washington wrote 
to Hancock, at the Congress, informing him of the evacua- 
tion, and of the condition of his own house and furniture 
as little injured. It had been occupied by General Clinton. 
The chief received and returned the congratulations of 
the General Court, and issued, on the 21st, a proclamation 
providing for order, the protection of property, and a due 
regard for magistracy. A lai-ge body of troops came in 
on the 20th, who demolished the enemy's works which 
menaced inwards, and constructed strong works on Fort 
Hill and other seaward points, and in Charlestown, to 
overawe the still lingering foe. Washington attended the 
revived Thursday Lecture on the 28th, as a Thanksgiving, 
and left the camp for Kew York on April 5th. 

Even the exiled inhabitants of Boston do not seem, as 
a body, to have made great haste to return to it. It was 
still a place of pei-il from a vengeful enemy, from disease, 
and from possible lawlessness. Many came to look upon 
the scene, and deferred for a season the reocenpation of 
their homes. The inevitable town-meeting was held on 
March 29th, for the election of officers and attention to 
the most i^ressing business. Slowly and cautiously were 



100 CENTEKNIAL ANXrVEKSART OF THE 

the dwellings and Avareliouses restored to their wonted uses. 
The scenes dcsci-ibed, of reunited fauiilies mingling- the 
joy of meeting with the gi'iefs of mourning over outi-aged 
homes and wrecked fortunes, deeplj'^ engage the sympa- 
thies of those who read the relations. Not till after the 
eentiny closed w^ere the signs of havoc, with the remnants 
of the military works, obliterated, and the scenes of full 
prosperity revived. And now, by a fair disposal, that 
portion of the surrounding territory Avhieh most firmly 
griped the besieged enemy and compelled him to depart is 
embraced in our municii)ality. New England was to be 
no more the scene of war, and in her participation in it 
thus far, less than tAvo hundred of her soldiers had fallen 
on her soil. 

In recognizing gratefully the gift of the medal from Con- 
gress, "Washington generously turned the pi-aise from him- 
self to his army. He said, " They w^ere indeed, at first, an 
army of undisciplined husbandmen; but it is, under God, 
to their bravery and attention to duty that I am indebted 
for that success Avhich has procured me the only reward 
I wish to receive, the affection and esteem of my country- 
men." 

Those of you who are seated nearest to this reading- 
desk may have noted that it bears to-day a decoration not 
familiar to the eyes of all of you, as it was to your fathers. 
When the Declaration of Independence was first publicly 
read in this town, on July 18th, with demonstrations of pat- 
riotism and joy, some of the people, not Avith the riot and A'io- 
lence of a mob, but in a somcAvhat orderly Avay, proceeded 
to remoA'e all the outside tokens and symbols of kingly au- 
thority, croAvns, carvings, signs and emblems, from public 



ETACTJATION" OF BOSTOX. 101 

places. This deeply and well-carved oaken tablet, bearing 
the roj'al ai'ms, Avas attached to the Province House, as 
the official residence of his Majesty's Governor. Of 
course it then came down from its place of dignity, for it 
had then, like Cromwell's mace, become a bauble. But, 
happily, it was not destroyed. It has its welcome abiding- 
place in the cabinet of the Historical Society. Its gilding 
has yielded to time. I have not brought this royal 
armoiial tablet here, and put it to this use to-day, with any 
intent to do it slight or dishonor, but as a valued relic, 
suggestive of da^^s and I'clations long past. I do not for- 
get, but rather tendei-ly i-emember, that the Queenly Lady 
who now bears that proud escutcheon, with her lamented 
Prince Consort, restrained her royal power from any other 
exercise than that of a noljle and generous sympath}', 
dmnng the distractions of our sad civil conflict. I saw the 
crown placed upon her head, on her coronation day in 
Westminster Abbey, and have loved ever since to trace 
her serene course of dignity and fidelity as wife, mother 
and queen of her magnificent cmpii-e. And if our story to- 
day has dealt harshh' with one who filled the throne before 
her, let us not close it without the expression of our pro- 
foundest homage and respect to Queen A'ictoria, not our 
sovereign, — except that, as the highest lady in the world, 
she should be such to all men, — but as our ally and our 
friend. 

Two suggestive thoughts burdened, the one with his- 
toric facts, the other, Avith a modern, and we trust, a 
perpetual interest, come to our muids after the rehearsal of 
the stoiy' of Boston's humiliation and restoration. First: 
it was rio-ht and fair in the orderins: of tlie method and 



102 CEXTENKIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

action of our Kevolutionaiy War, that the brunt of tlie 
strug'g-le should have come first, most severely, protract- 
edly, and decisively here. Boston had generated, pro- 
voked, invited the contest with the niother-conntry. She 
herself boasted in her town-meeting- that she had been 
" stationed by Providence in the front ranlc of the conliict." 
Here were first nttered calm and passionless, bnt earnest 
and cogent protests, manly remonstrances, dignified peti- 
tions. As these were dallied with and failed, it was 
naturnl that they should have been followed, as they were 
first, here, with threats, defiances, insiilts and ontfages. 
Truly was the town described, and not defamed, in Parlia- 
ment, as " the hot-bed of disafiection." Truly did Gen. 
Gage write to Lord Dartmouth, " In this town the arch- 
I'cbels formed their scheme long ago." With all jiistice 
were the sharpest censnres and invectives nttered in the 
Honse of Loi'ds against that pestilent nuisance, a Boston 
Town-Meeting, whose unknoAvn origin and anthority, and 
perpetual vitality by adjoiu'iiment, seemed to have given 
it a start at the creation of all things, and to make it inde- 
pendent even of a resurrection, because it never died. 
Those meetings originated the measures of concert and 
action for the province and continent. Here, too, was the 
largest group of clear-headed individuals conferring and 
w^orking together as patriots, by method and progress, as 
po])ular speakers and writers, skilled in argument and 
pleading, reading old laws and learning how to put new 
and better ones on the statute-book. Here, too, were clubs 
of patriots and liberty-men, Avliose prejudices were so in- 
tense against tea-pots, that they ventured to run the 
greater risk of pimch-bowls. It was wholly right and 



EVACUATION OF BOSTON, 103 

fair, then, that Boston should have been the first victim of 
the vengeance it provoked. 

The other suggestion comes in this form of question: 
Why is it that, when dire disaster, by flood or fire, pesti- 
lence or famine, is visited upon any spot, town or country, 
of this far-spread continent, the first appeal for sympathy 
and aid, as swiftly as the throbbing wires can bring it, is 
to Boston? And why is it that the more distant the scene, 
and the more strange even the name of the place of the 
disaster to us, the nearer and more familiar does Boston 
seem to the sufierers? The answer made by some will be. 
Because Boston is rich and thrifty, and its people have a 
repute for kindliness. Without disputing that, we must 
avow that there is a deeper reason, one that rests on debt 
and obligation. With all the drafts on our purses, we 
have but paid simple interest on a bonded claim. In the 
dismal and crushing fate visited upon trading and commer- 
cial Boston by the parliamentaiy act which hermetically 
closed our port to all entrance, exit and traffic, oiir House 
of Representatives resolved that this tyrannous bloAv, 
stnick against this town, was aimed equally against the 
province, and the colonized continent. The province and 
continent took us at our word. They recognized the truth 
and acted upon it. In deliberating upon a letter received 
from Boston, the Congress, at Philadelphia, October 10, 
1774, resolved unanimously, that if the people of Boston 
should find it necessary to leave it and seek the country, 
" all America ought to contribute towards recomjiensing 
them for the injury they may thereby sustain; and it will 
be recommended accordingly." " The Poor of Boston " 
was a phrase familiar over the continent, and it included. 



104 CENTENNIAL ANNIVEKSAKT OF THE 

for some articles of need, all the inhabitants. The letters 
of sympathy which came from the whole length and 
breadth of the country, from town and city, hamlet and 
solitary settlement, and the replies to them, fill two stout 
volumes. And the S3anpathy in these letters always took 
the form of invoices, inventories and manifests of all sub- 
stantial gifts, food, commodities, money. Even these had 
to reach the town by tedious land circuits. Virginia, too, 
besides sending the deliverer of Boston, sent us some of 
her riflemen, as did also Maryland, to jom our provmcial 
forces for sharper service than the farmers' old muskets 
could perform. Truly, then, does all that Boston can do 
for the victims of calamity over the whole Union urge 
itself as an entailed obligation recognized by admitted 
claims. 

Twice in the century has this blessed and privileged 
heritage of ours been rescued and redeemed; — once by 
ourselves, and then agamst and for ourselves. I have not 
the heart to recognize the lugubrious utterances heard 
among us just now over the commercial troubles and the 
wrecks of honor in high places, which have thrown a 
shadow upon our otherwise jubilant centennials. The times 
are not dreaiy ; the men who live are not degenerate. The 
capital stock of oiu" public wisdom, happiness and virtue 
has steadily increased. He who, because of exceptional 
cases or forms of evil and wrong, consigns his own age or 
heritage to decay, shows only liis ignorance of the truth 
of history, and his distrust of the Divine workings in all 
progressive good. The most depraving and fatal influence 
that can possibly work through a community is the allow- 
ance, as if unquestioned, of a prevailing decay of pulilic 



EVACUATION OF BOSTOX. 105 

and private virtue. Our brightest hope is in disbeheving 
tliat, and our noblest security is in disproving it. 

As I read the history of our fathers, in all their genera- 
tions, their toil and virtue seem to me to have been the 
noblest, in their steady regard for the welfare and happi- 
ness of their posterity. And, as I firmly believe that no 
single individual can follow the highest pattern of an 
earthly life, unless his hope and faith link on to a future, 
so I find it proved in all biographies and annals, that all 
unselfish, noble and heroic lives are those which parents 
lead for their children and their children's children. We 
have such lives among us in city, state and nation, jjrivate 
and public, high and humble. The three generations that 
have lived and died in this City of Boston, since its year 
of desolation, have wrought with diligence in all the tasks 
of duty; have been protected and controlled by wise and 
good laws; have lavishly sustained all institutions of 
learning, benevolence and mercy, and have enjoyed in 
their homes — luider providential limitations only — the 
measurements and the sum of all earthly happiness. We 
have had able and faithful magistrates, — truly select-men. 
And as for pure and upright citizens, let us venture to in- 
vite the trial of the old Bible test with which the patriarch 
Abraham was so sorely exercised. He was promised that 
an imperilled city should be spared destruction if fifty 
righteous men could be found in it. As soon as he ac- 
cepted the condition, he felt a misgiving, and pleaded that 
the requisite number might be reduced to forty-five. This 
being yielded, as he thought more and more of the severity 
of the test of righteousness, he begged to be answerable 
for finding only forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten. 



106 CEXTEKlvTAX, AISTNTVERSAET, ETC. 

Now do we not all feel that if oui* honored Mayor was set 
to answer for this city, after that fashion, and was allowed 
to begin with the smallest number, ten, he would dare to 
go up on the schedule and be responsible for twenty, 
thirty, forty, forty-five and fifty? I have known that full 
number here, in every year of my mature life. 

So, let me close with a slight expansion of the motto on 
our City Seal: "As God was with our Fathers, and has 
been and is with us, so may He be with our posterity." 



At the conclusiou of the oration, which was listened to with 
the closest attention, and received with hearty applause, the audi- 
ence united in singing "America," after which the benediction 
was pronounced by Rev. Mr. Manning, and the services were 
brought to a close. 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 



The writer of the preceding Address, in compliance with the wishes 
wliich have been expressed to him, lias brought together from authentic 
sources the matter of the following pages, illustrative of the period and 
incidents of local history, which are here commemorated. 

THE PROVINCIAL FORCES SUMMONED. 

The Second Provincial Congress, which had met at Concord, had 
adjourned, on April 15th, 1775, to the 10th of May following. Two days 
afterwards, the apprehensions of immediate events of a startling 
character induced the committees of several neighboring towns, on 
April 18th, to summon the members to meet again as soon as possible. 
Such of them as could be reached convened at Concord on the twenty- 
second, and adjourned to Watertown on the same day, the object being 
to bring the executive and legislative body of the province as near as 
possible to the gathering militar}- forces. The summons from the com- 
mittee was made more effective, if not anticipated, by the alarming crisis 
brought on bj- the affair of the nineteenth. 

In the interval, the following circular letter had been addressed by the 
Committee of Safety to the several towns. Before these letters could 
reach those to whom they were sent, the object they were designed to 
secure had been to some extent realized by the gathering of excited 
masses of people from quite a large circle of territory, Cambridge, Med- 
ford and Eoxbury being the chief centres of the concourse. 

"April 20, 1875. 
"Gentlemen: — The barbarous Murders on our innocent Brethren on 
Wednesday, the nineteenth Instant, has made it absolutely necessary that we 
immediately raise an Army to defend our Wives and our Children from the 



110 CHKONICLE OI' THE SIEGE. 

butchering Hands of an inhuman Soldiery, who, incensed at the Obstacles 
tliey met with in their bloody Progress, and enraged at being repulsed from 
the Field of Slaughter, will, without the least doubt, take the lirst Opportunity 
in their Power to ravage this devoted Country with Fire and Sword. We con- 
jure you, therefore, by all that is dear, by all tliat is sacred, tliat you give 
all Assistance possible in forming an Army. Our all is at Stake ; Death and 
Devastation are the certain Consequences of Delay ; every Moment is 
infinitely precious ; an Hour lost may deluge your Country in Blood, and 
entail perpetual Slavery upon the few of your Posterity who may survive the 
Carnage. Wc beg and entreat as you will answer it to your Counti-y, to your 
own Consciences, and above all, as you will answer to God himself, that you 
will hasten and encourage by all possible Means the Inlistment of Men 
to form tlie Army, and send tliem forward to Head-Quarters, at Cambridge, 
with that Expedition, which the vast Importance and instant Urgency of the 

Affair demands. 

" JOSEPH AVARREN, President P. T." 

On the twenty-sixth of the month the committee addressed a second 
circular to the other New England provinces, asking that all the soldiers 
they could spare might be sent with provisions, ammunition and officers, 
and, if possible, artillery, to Cambridge, as our own men, so hurriedly 
assembled, would many of them need, temporarily, to return to their 
homes. 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 

A British officer writing from Boston to a friend in England, soon 
after his return from the affair at Concord and Lexington, gives us this 
precise date for the opening of the siege : " About seven o'clock in the 
evening we arrived at Charlestown, and took possession of a hill that 
commanded the town. Tlie rebels shut up the Neck, and placed sen- 
tinels there, and took prisoner one officer of the G4th Regiment, so 
that in the course of two daj's we were reduced to the disagreeable 
necessity of living on salt provisions, and fairlj' blocked up in Boston." 

Of similar purport is the disclosure in a long, confidential letter, 
written from Boston, under the pledge of secrecy, by Gen. Burgoyne to 
his friend Lord Rochfort, which, by a singular coincidence, is first 
brought to light in Uie publication of the General's private papers this 
year, a century after it was written : — 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. Ill 

"I arrived in Boston, together with Generals Howe and Clinton, on the 
twenty-fifth of May. It would be unnecessary, were it possible, to describe 
our surprise, or other feelings, upon the appearances which at once, and on 
every side, were oflfered to our observation. The town, on the land side, in- 
vested by a rabble in arms, who, flushed with success and insolence, had 
advanced their sentries to pistol-shot of our out-guards ; the ships in the har- 
bor exposed to, and expecting, a cannonade or bombardment ; in all com- 
panies, whether of ogicers or inhabitants, men still lost in a sort of 
stupefaction, which the events of the nineteenth of April had occasioned, and 
venting expressions of censure, anger or despondency. The principle of 
seizing arms, and thereby bringing the designs of the malcontents to a test 
and a decision, was certainly just. We can only wonder that it was not 
sooner adopted." 



The siege ma}- proper!}- be distinguished into two stages, the one fol- 
lowing the affair at Le.xington and Concord, the other ensuing upon the 
battle at Bunker's Hill. The latter, of course, in its strictness, its pro- 
traction, the critical events which it involved, and in the triumph of the 
patriotic cause with which it closed, was far more interesting and 
momentous. But the earlier stage of the siege, — covering two months of 
the eleven of the investment of the town, — presented many exciting 
incidents and issues. In the first stage the British forces on the single 
peninsula of Boston, under Gen. Gage, were in duress ; afterwards those 
who had fortifled the heights of Charlestown, under command of Gen. 
Howe, were also beleaguered. 

Even before the affair at Concord and Lexington the inhabitants of 
Boston were virtually under most of the disabilities and sufferings of an 
invested town. The civil power was in subjedtioa to the military. 
Boston was a garrison. Large bodies of soldiers were quartered in its 
forts, on its open fields, and in its public and private buildings. The 
trades and occupations of peace were suspended or fettered. The 
people were exposed to insults and alarms, to mobs, riots and con- 
flagrations from an unbridled and mocking soldier}-, even the officers 
sometimes being far from blameless. There was much of putrid and in- 
fectious disease in the barracks and hospitals. The lower part of the 
Common was appropriated for a burial-ground for soldiers, who died in 
such numbers as to be interred in trenches. There was a constant rush 



112 CHEONICLE or THE SEEGE. 

of deserters, either singly or in company, into the open countrj', by 
boats, by swimming, or over the Necli. The appearance of these in the 
country towns often caused annoyance or embarrassment. Thej- might 
be spies, they might be profligates, but they professed to be disgusted 
with the service, and were ready to work in the inland towns, often sup- 
pl3'ing the places of men who had gone to the provincial camp. The 
loss and disaffection and demoralization visited upon the British armj- by 
the number and frequency of these desertions caused the commander to 
impose a most rigid surveillance wer his men, with constant roll-calls, 
and to inflict the severest penalties of the lash and death upon culprits. 

He had in the previous season most strongly fortified the lines at the 
Neck, with brick works, with ditches and strong wickets. A most pos- 
itive and threatening protest from the selectmen alone prevented the 
opening of a trench to let in tide-waters across the causeway. 

THE POOR IN BOSTON. 

From the closing of the port in the previous June the inhabitants had 
been subjected to a series of inconveniences and inflictions steadily 
accumulating and intensifying. The generous sympathy of the other 
towns in this province, and of fellow-patriots all over the continent, 
including Montreal, was sending a steady stream of donations for the 
relief of the poor in Boston. But these for the most part reached the 
town by costly land-travel, as the water ways were closed. A com- 
mittee for distributing these gifts dispensed them for a time, except to 
the sick, on condition of the performance of some work for the public. 
Provisions became scarce, and were held at an enormous cost, so that 
those who had been wont to enjoy variety and abundance of meats and 
vegetables, and railk and fresh fish and fuel, were even in fear of ftimine. 
The cows were denied their usual pasturage on the Common and other 
fields. Sentinels guarded every way of access to the town or exit from 
it. 

GENERAL BURGOYNE ON THE SITUATION. 

The confidential letter from Burgoj-ne to Lord Rochfort, previously 
quoted, greatly strengthens tlie cviilence which we had before, that the 
two encounters which the British troops had had in April and June with 



CHROXICLE or THE SIEGE. 113 

"the provincial rabble" had given them a somewhat more adequate 
sense of the spirit and courage of the people whom thej' hM outraged. 
After informing his lordship, of what he no doubt believed, that the 
provincials at Ciiarlestown had treble the force of the British, — the 
truth being that the British, independentl}' of their war-vessels, actually 
outnumbered the provincials, — he proceeds to approve the making the 
utmost for popular efl'ect of the alleged British victory on Bunlter Hill. 
But he most significantly adds : — 



" It may be wise policy to support tliis impression to the utmost, both in 
writing and discourse ; but when I withdraw the curtain, your lordship will 
find much cause for present reflection, much for the exercise of your judg- 
ment upon the future conduct of the scene. Turn your eyes first, my lord, 
to the behavior of the enemy. The defence was well-conceived and obsti- 
nately maintained ; the retreat was no flight ; it was even covered with bravery 
and military skill, and proceeded no farther than to the next hill, where a 
new post was taken, new intrenchments instantly begun, and their numbers 
aflTording constant reliefs of workmen, they have been continued day and 
night ever since. View now, my lord, the side of victory ; and first the list 
of killed and wounded. If fairly given, it amounts to no less than ninety-two 
ofiicers, many of them an irreparable loss — a melancholy disproportion to 
the number of the private soldiers — and there is a melancholy reason for it. 
Though my letter passes in security, I tremble while I write it ; and let it 
not pass even in a whisper from your lordship to more than one person [the 
king]. The zeal and intrepidity of the ofiicers, which was without ex- 
ception exemplary, was ill-seconded by the private men. Discipline, not to 
say coui-age, was wanting. In the critical moment of can-ying the redoubt, 
the ofiicers of some corps were almost alone ; and what was the worst part 
of the confusion of these corps, all the wounds of the officers were not 
received from the enemv." 



This very remarkable disclosure will bring to the mind of the reader 
the contrast, to some extent, of what was experienced on the provincial 
side, where it was thought at the time that — of course, allowing for 
A'ery marked exceptions — the men exhibited more prowess than the 
officers. 

A reason why, independently of what has just l>cen quoted, Burgoyne 



114 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

may liavo "trembled" \\\\\\o lie wrote this letter, is found in the follow- 
ing criticism upon his superior oHicer : — 

" I think General Gage ijossesseil of every quality to maintain quiet govern- 
ment with honor to himself and happiness to those he governs ; his temper 
and his talents, of which he has many, are calculated to dispense the olfices 
of justice and humanity. In the military I believe him capable of figuring 
upon ordinary and given lines of conduct ; but his mind has not resources for 
great and sudden and hardy exertions which spring self-suggested in 
extraordinary characters, and generally overbear all opposition. In short, I 
think him a contrast to that cast of men, somewhere described — 

" ' Fit to disturb the pence of all llie -world, 
And rule it when 'tis wildest." 

" Unfortunately for us that cast of character, at least tlie latter part of it, is 
precisely wdiat we want here ; and I hope I shall not be thought to disparage 
my General and my friend, in pronouncing him unequal to his sittiation, when 
1 add that I think it one in which Ctesar might have failed." 



INTERCOURSE BETWEEN TOWN AND COUNTRY. 

To all the inflictions visited npon the inhabitants of the town was 
soon added tlie risk to which the}' were subjected from any violent or 
warlike acts or demonstrations from the patriots gathering around the 
invested peninsula, who might feel prompted to measures ruinous alike 
to friend and foe. 

The relation was for a while a strange and perplexing one between the 
parties who had not as j"et irrevocablj- defined the issues and chosen 
sides. The forms of peaceful and respectful oflicial intercourse were 
kept up, with a conscious sense of their hollowness and insincerity. In 
spite of the eflbrls of restraint there was none the less a constant com- 
munication between the town and country. There was a coming and a 
going, sometimes opcnlj-, sometimes furtively ; various pretences se- 
cured libertj-, and monej' brought privileges then and there, as elsewhere 
and always. Indeed, even in the later and the longer stage of the siege 
everything that occurred in town or country, in either camp, was speedily 
known to the other party. Deserters, spies, and those who contrived 
to evade all guards, and to surmount all ditficiilties, got out of the town, 



CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 115 

and usuallj' went to give information at head-quarters. True, this was 
not alwaj's to be relied on. Wild rumors, sill}' tales, mischievous in- 
ventions, fabrications and exaggerations, taught a practised caution. A 
Mr. Mellicant, of Watertown, an officer on half-pay in the ro^-al service 
in Boston, was said to have frequently received information from our 
camp, by means of his wife, who passed the lines ; and the Committee of 
Safet}', acting on this case, were induced to provide as effectuall}- as 
possible against such intercourse. We must remember that the wida 
expanse of the water and the marsh land then surrounding the peninsula 
required much prowess of a rower or a swimmer in passing over it. 



COVENANT BETWEEN GENERAL GAGE AND THE INHABITANTS. 

Very soon after the affair at Lexington, the wliig, or patriotic inhabi- 
tants of Boston, realizing their anxieties and dangers, applied to Gen. 
Gage for liberty to leave it. At first he positively' refused. The case 
was an embarrassing one, and, as he saw, had two sides to it. For two 
reasons he would gladly have been rid of them ; as, first, they might 
keep up intercourse, exchange signals, and give information to those 
outside, and even aid them in case they made an assault ; and, second, 
he would be relieved of an element of disaffection near his soldiers, and 
of the probable necessity of providing the citizens with fuel and the means 
of sustenance. On the other hand, it was to be considered that, if the 
patriotic citizens were allowed to go out, with arms, mone}' and goods, 
they would strongly reinforce and encourage the rebels outside, while 
their continued presence in the town was some security for internal 
quiet, and against an assault. The latter considerations had sway with 
Gage. 

The selectmen were called upon to meet the crisis, as it was under- 
stood that the Governor meant to require of the citizens a surrender of 
their arms. A town-meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, on Saturdaj', 
April 22, at which the citizens objected to give up their arms, without 
pledge from the Governor of security for their lives and property, and 
liberty to leave the town. A committee chosen at once to wait upon liim 
and arrange matters was detained b}' him so long that the meeting was 
adjourned to the next day, Sunday, to hear the result of the conference. 



11(5 ClIKONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

The solemn d:iy aiul occasion made a solemn meeting, which \\as opened 
with prayer, by Dr. Andrew Eliot. The Hon. James Bowdoin presided 
and, as Chairman of the committee to confer with the Governor, re- 
ported in substance : — 

" That the committee had represented to the Governor the uneasiness of the 
inhabitants at the avenues of the town being shut up, and no person admitted 
to come in or go out, and the fears and apprehensions they were under with 
respect to the behavior of the troops in case of an attack from the cotmtry, 
etc. To which His Excellency replied, that he could not be answerable for 
tlie conduct of tlie troops, unless he had absolute assurance of the peaceable 
disposition of the inhabitants, and that none would be so satisfactory as the 
surrender of their arms : that upon doing this they should have liberty to 
remove out of town, with their effects, and have carriages to assist those that 
went by land ; iind he would desire the Admiral [Sam'l Greaves, who had 
succeeded Admiral Montagu on this station] to assist with his boats tliose 
who should remove by water." 

He also promised to nialvc provision that the poor should not snlfer. 

After some discussion at the meeting, the inhabitants, partially re- 
lieved, voted to comply with the proposal. They punctiliously kept 
their agreement, surrendering their arms, to be deposited in Faneuil 
Hall or elsewhere, under the care of the selectmen. The names of the 
owners were severally attached to them, and it was covenanted that they 
should be returned at a proper tinu>. 

In the journal of the Committee of Safety, at Cambridge, April 28, 
1775, is the following entry : "Mr. Henderson Inches, who left Boston 
this day, attended, and informed the committee that the inhabitants of 
Boston had agreed with the General to have liberty to leave Boston with 
their efl'ects, provided that they lodged their arms with the selectmen of 
that town, to be by them kept during the present dispute, and that, 
agreeably to said agreement, the inhabitants had, on j-esterday, lodged' 
1,778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 973 bayonets, and 38 blunderbusses, with 
their selectmen." 

But when the owners of the arms after the evacuation sought them, they 
were found to be hopelessly damaged and worthless. The Loyalists, or 
"Government Men," in the town, were chagrined at this covenant with 
rebels, and said that Gage had yielded too much, and that some arms 



CHEOK"ICLE OF TIIE SIEGE. 117 

bad boon concealed. A rigid searcli was made for everything in the 
shape of a weapon. 

The inhabitants, having met tlie terms of tlieir agreement, trusted 
that the Governor would fulfil his, but were disappointed and irritated 
bj' subsequent conditions. They had supposed that tliej- would be free 
to take with them all their moveable property at their pleasure, with 
facilities of land and water conve3-ance, as promised. But the Gov- 
ernor at once appointed a new ofDcer, under the title of Town Major, 
without a pass from whom he forbade anj- one to leave the town. 

Great difficulties were thrown in the wa}' of obtaining these passes. 
Some applicants w-aited days and weeks for them ; they were granted 
spasmodically, suspended for daj's and weeks, and then resumed. 
Some obtained them by bribes, some tlirougb tory friends. Then again 
very slight assistance was afforded \>y free boats, as the Admiral would 
not co-operate. All passage b}' carriages over the Neck was interdicted, 
and the aged, infirm and sick were great sufferers. But the meanest 
evasion of the covenant made bj' the Governor, and which brought his 
honor under a cloud, relieved onlj- by the plea that he had the advice of 
his counsellors and some tory lawj-ers, for the construction of the term, 
was as to the meaning of the word effects. The lawyers said it included 
only, "furniture, clothes, plate and money." The inhabitants insisted 
that it covered "provisions, merchandise, and all working tools." A 
committee was appointed to remonstrate with the Governor, but he held 
by the advice given him, and the exiles — passing an inspection by 
appointed officers — had to leave their goods behind them, or win 
favors hy bribery. These inspectors were tyrannous and abusive in 
their office. Three places of exit were provided and rigidly watched : 
the Neck, Charlestown Ferry and Long AVharf. Here men and women 
were searched, their bundles opened, food taken from them, and they 
and their effects kept out for nights in the streets till permitted to go. 
Not onl}- merchandise and provisions, but even medicine, came under 
prohibition for removal, and an intense feeling of hostility, with 
the wretchedness of despair, were excited in many persons who would 
have inclined to be moderate, and in the distressed members of sepa- 
rated families, aged and infirm parents, husbands, wives and children. 
The warmest partisans of the royal cause in the town were charged. 



118 CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

probiiblj' with good reason, with inducing Gen. Gage to break the spirit 
and even the letter of his agreement. The tories denounced the 
arrangement, by which all who were in sj-mpath^- with the rebels outside 
were allowed to join them, as impolitic and of pernicious tendency'. 
Their departure would remove one of the chief securities against 
incendiarism and bombardment. On the day of the battle at Lexing- 
ton some two hundred of these tories, chiefly crown-officials and 
traders, had sent in their names to the General volunteering to arm in 
his service. The General gladly accepted the offer, and the volunteers 
were at once enrolled under Brigadier General Ruggles, a country 
torj-. A panic rose in this corps on the going out of the inhabitants, 
and after sharply remonstrating with the General they threatened to lay 
down their arms and even to go out themselves. The General, after 
temporizing, j-ielded to their remonstrances, and came to the persuasion 
that even the presence of women and children in the town might be a 
security to it. Hence tlie restrictions put upon the carrying out of the 
terms of his own covenant, and the final refusal of passes. 

The Committee of Safety at Cambridge, in a letter to the Selectmen 
of Boston, dated April 22, anticipating the contract with Gage, had 
approved it in these words : — 

" Gentlemen : — The Committee of Safety being informed that Gen. Gage 
has proposed a treaty with the inhabitants of the town of Boston, whereby he 
stipulates that the women and children, with all their effects, shall have safe 
conduct without the garrison; and their men also, upon condition that the 
male inhabitants within the town shall, on their part, solemnly engage that 
they will not take up arms against the King's troops, within the town, sliould 
an attacli be made from without, — we cannot but esteem those conditions to 
be just and reasonable ; and as the inhabitants are in danger of suffering from 
the want of provisions, which, in this time of general confusion, cannot be 
conveyed into the town, we are willing you shall enter into and faithfully 
keep the engagement afore mentioned, etc." 

Of course tlie Provincial Congress remonstrated against the embarrass- 
ments put upon the removal of the people, and against the final breach 
of his covenant by tlie General. 

Charlestown, though, till the battle of June 17th, nomiuallj' free from 



CHROXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 119 

niilitaiy control, was still inimediatelj' overawed by tbe British and 
their ships. It was gradually- becoming deserted by its people, save by 
a few who tried to protect their propertj-. Its poorer inhabitants were 
provided for in the country towns. Unfortunatel}-, too, some of the 
people of Boston had been transferring goods and valuables to the 
doomed town, as if for greater securitj'. The librarj' of Dr. Mather had 
been deposited there. Of course all these goods of every kind were 
destroyed when the British fired the town. As earl^' as the first week in 
Maj' a guard at Charlestown Neck prevented the entrance of persons or 
provisions without a pass. 

General Gage seems to have regarded his demand for the delivery of 
arms as including those of all the inhabitants. He therefore issued on 
June 19lh the following proclamation : — 



"BY TPIE GOVERNOR. A PROCLAMATION. 

"Whereas, notwithstanding the repeated Assurances of the Selectmen and 
others, That all the Inhabitants of tlie Town of Boston had, bona Fide, de- 
livered their Fire-Arms unto the Persons appointed to receive them, though I 
had Advices at the same Time of the contrary ; and whereas, I have since had 
full Proof that many have been perfidious in this Respect, and have secreted 
great Numbers : 

"J Have thought fit to issue this Proclamation, to require of all Persons 
who have yet Fire-Arms in their possession, immediately to sun-ender them at 
the Court-House to such Persons as shall be authorized to receive them: 
and hereby to declare that all Persons in whose possession any Fire-Arms 
may hereafter be found, will be deemed Enemies to His Majesty's Government. 

" Given at Boston the Nineteenth Day of June, 1775, &c., &c. 

"THO'S GAGE. 

" By His Excellency's Command, 

" THO'S FLUCKER, Secr't/. 

" GOD Save the KING." 



120 CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

The following afterwards appeared at its date : — 

" NOTIFICATION. 

" ALL Persons who are desirous of leaving the Town of Boston are hereby 
called upon to give in their Names to the Town Major forthwith. 

" By Order of His Excellency the General, 

" JAjNLES URQUHART, Town Major. 
" Boston, 24th of July, 1775." 

The Provincial Congress, at Concord, April 14, recognized the pru- 
dence of the step by which manj- of the inhabitants of the town, who 
had been able to do so, had already left it, and provided for helping the 
poor to come out. On April 20, Joseph Warren, as Chairman of the 
Committee of Safety, addressed a respectfiil letter to General Gage, 
asking him as to the time that was to be allowed to those who wished 
respectively to go into or to come out of Boston, and suggesting that he 
remove the restriction by which he had limited the number of wagons 
that might be admitted at anj- one time to thirt3'. The matter of the 
liberation of the inhabitants was referred by the Provincial Congress to 
the Committee of Safet^^, and action hy the committee was impatiently 
asked for on April 30th. The committee reported on the same day, 
accepting Gage's terms, and agreeing that those who should go into the 
town might take with them their effects, excepting arms and ammu- 
nition. It was also thoughtfully- ordered that the members remaining in 
the coiintrj- towns of families, the heads of which might be in Boston, 
favoring the royal side, should not be treated with any violence or 
indignitj-. Furthermore, permission and facilities were granted to all 
who wished to remain in Boston to send out into the country for 
their moveable propertj-, excepting arms and ammunition. The ob- 
structions imposed by Gen. Gage continuing to prevent the egress of 
the inhabitants from the town, the Provincial Congress addressed a 
letter to Gen. Ward, at Roxbury, to do everything in his power to 
secure ingress and egress to all who, under the conditions, desired it. 
On May 9th, a committee was instructed to make " a spirited appli- 
cation " to Gen. Gage. Tiie result was the following letter, sent to him 
by the Congress, on May 10th : — 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 121 

" To His Excellency General Gage: — 

" SlE, — This Congress have received frequent intelligence that their 
brethren, the inhabitants of the town of Boston, have to contend, in their 
removal therefrom, with numerous delays and embarrassments, contrary to 
the stipulation proposed and agreed to between Your Excellency and the 
selectmen of that town. 

" We think it our duty to remonstrate to Your Excellency, that, from 
the papers communicated to us by the said selectmen, it appeared, that the 
inhabitants were ijromised, upon surrendering their arms, that they should 
be permitted to leave the town, and carry with them their eflfects. The con- 
dition was immediately complied with on the part of the people ; since which, 
though a number of days have elapsed, but a very small proportion of the 
inhabitants have been allowed to talie the benefit of your covenant. 

"We would not aft'ront Your Excellency by the most distant insinuation that 
you intended to deceive and disarm the people by a cruel act of perfidy. A 
regard to your own character, as well as the fatal consequences which will 
necessarily result from the violation of your solemn treaties, must suggest 
sufficient reasons to deter a gentleman of your ranli and station from so 
injurious a design. But Your Excellency must be sensible, that a delay of 
justice is a denial of it, and extremely oppressive to the jieople now held in 
duress. 

" This Congress, though not the original party in the treaty, have talvcn 
every step in their power to facilitate the measure, and in the whole of their 
conduct have endeavored to evidence a disposition to act upon the principles 
of humanity and good faith, ahd still indulge hopes that the confidence of the 
inhabitants of Boston, in Your Excellency's honor and faithfulness, is not mis- 
placed ; and that, notwithstanding any disagreeable occurrences, naturally 
I'esulting from the confused state of the colony, which this Congress have 
discountenanced and endeavored to rectify, Your Excellency will no longer 
suifer your treaty with a distressed people, who ought by no means to 
be afi"ected thereby, to be further violated." 

The Committee of Safet\-, ou May 17th, passed the following vote: 
" Wliereas General Gage has not kept his agreement with the inhabitants 
of the town of Boston, but, notwithstanding his said agreement, has 
prevented, and even refused, said inhabitants, with their eflects, from 
removing into the country ; therefore, Resolved, That it be recommended 
to the Congress that they rescind their resolution of the 30th ultimo, 
l^ermittiug the inhabitants of this colony to remove, with their effects, 



122 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

into the town of Boston, which resolution was founded upon said agree- 
ment." Aceordinglj-, the Congress, on the twentieth of the month, re- 
solved as follows: '■'■Whereas, this Congress did, on the 30th of April 
last, pass a resolve for permitting such inhabitants of the colony to re- 
move into Boston, with their effects, fire-arms and ammunition excepted, 
as should incline thereto, it being in consequence of Gen. Gage's 
promise to the inhabitants of Boston, that, upon resigning their arms 
and ammunition the}' should have liberty' to remove from said town with 
their efleets ; and ichereas, but a small proportion of the said inhabitants 
of Boston have been hitherto permitted to leave the town, and those 
only to bring their clothing and household furniture, thej- being con- 
strained to leave their provisions and all their other effects ; therefore, 
Resolved, That Gen. "Ward be and he herebj- is directed to order the 
guards in future not to suffer an}' provisions or effects, excepting furni- 
ture and clothing, to be carried into the town of Boston, so long as the 
said Gen. Gage shall suffer the persons or effects of the inhabitants of 
said town, contrary to his plighted faith, to be restrained." 

It is difficult to estimate, with much precision, the exact number of 
the inhabitants of Boston, of both sexes and of all ages, who removed 
from it under this first conditional allowance offered b}' the British com- 
mander. As we shall see, bj* and b}', another opportunitj- for a further 
portion of the distressed people to go out, though under still harder con- 
ditions, was offered, caused by the press of circumstances. The qualified 
privilege offered b}- the proclamation in April was practically impaired by 
so many embarrassments and caprices, that the exit of those who wished 
to avail themselves of it was wearil}' protracted all through the month of 
June. The alternative of going or remaining was to many but a balance 
of hardships and distresses. Large numbers of them, having no relatives 
in the country, and no kind of profitable employment or resources, felt 
that they would have to throw themselves on the charitj' of towns or 
individuals already heavily burdened, and looking forward to severer 
exactions. Thej' must leave their dwellings and their property, which 
they could not remove, to all the risks of disaster, mischief, violence, 
and of wanton riots of a military occupancy. To set against these were 
the steadily increasing scarcitj' and exorbitant prices of fuel and pro- 
visions, loss of means of living through trade or labor, fearful risks 



CHRONICLE or THE SIEGE. 123 

from pestilential disease, the hateful presence of a foreign arm\-, and the 
constant peril of assaults from the patriots outside. 

There were supposed to have been about 17,000 inhabitants iu Boston 
when hostilities began at Lexington, and it was estimated that nearly or 
quite 12,000 had gone out by tlie end of June. More were yet, as 
above intimated, to go out in the autumn. There were several cases iu 
which one member of a family concluded to remain to look after house, 
property, shop or store, while the other members went into the country. 
Then the long months of separation, with all the varied calamities and 
apprehensions, keeping them at a fever heat, and with the extremest 
difficulty of communicating by letters, which were opened on both sides 
of the lines, were further aggravations of miserj-. The General com- 
pelled the selectmen to remain in the town, but thej' had scarce anything 
beyond sanitary functions, and a partial oversight of the poor. Town 
meetings of the citizens of Boston were held in Watertown. Records 
of these and of the doings of the selectmen are preserved in the City 
Clerk's office, but they are exceedingly meagre. Those of the meetings 
held at Watertown are largely occupied with provisions for the oration 
on "the horrid massacre," and with thanks to the orators. The Pro- 
vincial Congress did all that was iu its power by recommendations to 
provide, in the country towns, for the reception iu each of a certain 
number of exiles who had no private resources, and fixed on a weekly 
allowance to be paid for their support b}' the selectmen of such towns, 
or b}' their Committees of Correspondence. A spirit of mutual depend- 
ence and harmony, and a determination to continue resistance, meeting 
all its consequences, were very much quickened by these interminglings 
of the people from the town with those in the countr}'. 



"THE FRIENDS OF GOVERNMENT." 

Boston now became simply what some of those left in it called it, "a 
Garrison of the King." Besides the military-, it now had in it — we can 
scarcely say that it sheltered and protected — a motlej', discordant and 
uucomfort.able conglomeration of people. The countrj' towns had had 
at the same time several persons and a few families of whom they were 
glad to be rid. 



124 CHROlSriCLE OF THE SIEGE. 



TORIES IN TOWN AND COUNTRY. 

These were then called Tories, afterwards Lojalists, and Refugees. 
Some of these received hard measure, and were treated undoubted!}- with 
severity, cruelty, and absolute injustice ; and unwisely so, as the event 
proved, for ends of policy. In several of tlie country towns were con- 
spicuous (jtizens, professional men or merchants, of influence and high 
social standing, who were more or less out of sympathy with what they 
regarded as the rashness, turbulence or violence of the spirit of liberty 
as it was then rising. They thought our grievances exaggerated ; doubt- 
ed if we could cope with Great Britain ; feared our burdens would be 
increased ratlier than lightened ; distrusted the hot-headedness of some 
whom thej' looked upon as demagogues ; and, with a hesitating and con- 
servative spirit, they counselled moderation and delaj-. Either from 
words known to have dropped from them, or from their bolder opposi- 
tion, or from their absence from the popular assemblies, such men came 
under suspicion, and were marked with distrust. The patriotic commit- 
tees of the towns took them in hand, went to examine them, or sum- 
moned them to a meeting to give an account of themselves by humiliation 
and avowals of sympathy- with the popular cause. Some, timidlj- or 
honestl}', made their peace. Others, who would not yield their convic- 
tions, were treated with indignity and violence, bj' mobs investing their 
dwellings, by threats of tar and feathers, and bj^ destruction or seizure 
of their property. These procedures confirmed them in their opinions 
and course of conduct, and stiffened their obstinac}'. Many of these, 
being hustled about and threatened in their own towns, had already 
found a troubled refuge in Boston. Others had come into the neighbor- 
hood of the Provincial camp as if reallj^ safer there than at home among 
gathering minute-men and under the surveillance of committees. 

With the softened spirit of a retrospective review of those days of 
fierce excitement, we cannot but mingle witli our pity for some indi- 
viduals who were proscribed as enemies to tlieir country, a regret for the 
severity, and sometimes gross injustice, with whicli thoy were treated. 
A broad distinction is to be drawn between the interested partisans of 
royalty engaged in profitable trade, or fawning upon the representatives 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 125 

of power, in the town, and the professional men or private citizens in the 
country, who were forced to affiliate with them. There were peace-loving 
and ever}' way blameless gentlemen and ladies scattered over the 
province, who, on being roughly waited upon by a self-constituted com- 
mittee of " Sons of Liberty," began by simply objecting to, and then 
resenting, the catechising to which they were subjected. If any 
utterance or overt act on the part of such persons, indicating a lack of 
sympathy with the popular movement, could be charged against them, 
thej' were treated with great indignitj', — their names being posted as 
enemies or traitors, their houses and goods rifled, or their dwellings 
befouled b}- the process called, " a coating of Hillsborough paint." 
Threats of "tar and feathers" were, however, more frequentlj- uttered 
than carried out. A ver^' humiliating method was enjoined as the con- 
dition of full or probationar}' pardon for having offended the people. The 
penitent must fall on his knees before his townsmen, and, expressing 
deep contrition, implore their forgiveness. 

When Gage covenanted for the departure of the inhabitants of Boston, 
he asked that a letter should be written by the selectmen, to Dr. AYar- 
ren, at Watertown, desiring leave for all such persons in the country 
towns, as might wish to do so, to come unmolested into Boston, with 
their effects. The Provincial Congress, responding to the supposed fair- 
ness of Gage, on April 30, as above stated, granted such permission, 
and stationed officers at the Neck of Boston and Charlestown to secure 
them free entrance. Those wretched fugitives little realized then what 
the}' had j-et to endure from their exasperated countr3men, as the odium 
in which the}' were held was steadily intensified, and as their doom was 
confiscation, humiliation, expatriation and povert}'. Often did many of 
them, even from their pensioned refuge in the mother-countrj' and in its 
wild provinces, send back longing laments for the fields of New England. 
The sevei'est language which came from the pen of Washington was in 
denunciation of the Tories — "those execrable parricides whose counsels 
and aid have deluged their country with blood." Protesting against the 
treatment they had received, they said to the Whigs, "You make the 
air resound with the crj' of liberty, but subject those who differ from you 
to the humble condition of slaves, not permitting us to act, or even think, 
according to the dictates of conscience." The only reply they received 



126 CimONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

was, " The majority- in a free government must bear rule. There is an 
immense majority for libert}'. You take j'our side — for failure or tri- 
umph." From the opening of the struggle the crown promised to all 
Tories securit}' and compensation. 



LADY FRANKLAND. 

Among those persons living in the country-, whose sympathies led 
them to seek the protection of the British General by availing themselves 
of the privileges granted by Congress of removing into Boston, was a 
lady whose career had such elements of romantic interest as to prompt a 
special reference, in this connection, to her individual experience. 

The most lucrative crown office in Boston in the j-ears preceding the 
outbreak of strife was that of the Collector of the Customs. Though 
the salary attached to it was but £100, the perquisites of it made it 
ver^' profitable and more desirable than that of Governor of the prov- 
ince. Shirlej' made interest for the Collectorship, but had to content 
himself with the office of Governor, because he had at the time a more 
powerful rival. This rival is known bj- the name of Sir Charles Henry 
Frankland, grandson of a daughter, the youngest and favorite child, of 
Oliver Cromwell. He was born May 10, 1716, at Bengal, where his 
father was residing as Governor of the East India Company's factory. 
In 1741, in his twentj'-fifth year, he was made Collector of Boston. His 
winning and engaging manners, and other personal qualities, made Mm a 
great favorite in the vice-regal society of the town, and he was a gener- 
ous patron of King's Chapel and its rectors, and of Harvard College. 
He had with him a natural son, a little boy bearing the name of Henry 
Cromwell. On an official visit which he made to Marblehead in the 
j-ear 1 742 , his attention was drawn to the rustic beauty of a J"0ung girl 
of sixteen years, Agnes Surriage, a daughter of poor, but decent 
parents, who, with bare feet and limbs, was scrubbing the floor of the 
inn. He gave her half a crown with which she might buy shoes. On a 
second visit, soon after, seeing her again in the sanje condition, he ques- 
tioned her about her shoes. She replied that she had bought a pair, but 
kept them " to wear to meeting Sundays." Seemingly engaged by her 
charms and the promise of what she might be made to be, Frankland, by 



CHEOKICLE OF THE SIEGE. 127 

consent of her parents, had her brought to Boston, there, at his expense, 
to receive the best education enjoj-ed by the daughters of the aristocracj- 
of the time and place. Four years after his first sight of her she became 
a member of his household in a relation which had not the sanction of 
legal or religious rites. To relieve the scandal of that relation which 
prevented this child of poverty from enjoying the social position she 
might have had as his wife, he purchased, in 1752, a large extent of 
land in the town of Hopkinton, twentj'-five miles from Boston, where he 
built and furnished sumptuousl}' a spacious manor-house, with out- 
buildings, gardens, parks and fine shrubberies, and where he kept a 
dozen or twentj' slaves. Here he maintained a bounteous hospitality 
while visiting Boston to attend to his official duties. There were many 
loyalists in Hopkinton, where lands had been purchased and an Episco- 
pal Church planted b}' Roger Price, the uncomfortable rector of King's 
Chapel. 

Having occasion to visit England on business, in 1754, his family con- 
nections would not recognize Agnes, who accompanied him. He was 
residing with her temporarily at Lisbon, when, as he was driving in a 
carriage with another lady, he was buried for more than an hour under 
the ruins of a falling building in the great earthquake which desolated 
that city on Nov. 1, 1755. In the horrors of his situation he lamented 
some of his faults and vices, and penitently resolved if he escaped death 
to amend his life. Being rescued with onlj- severe bruises, he took 
Agnes at once to a church, where the marriage rite was solemnized 
between them, which was soon after repeated bj' the chaplain of the 
ship, an Episcopal clergyman, as they were returning to England. His 
high-born friends now heartily received the rescued husband and the 
legal wife. Returning with her to Boston in 1756, he purchased, for a 
town-house, the splendid Clarke mansion in Garden Court street, next 
to Gov. Hutchinson's, still retaining the estate at Hopkinton. The 
writer of these pages, some twenty-five years ago, visited the fine 
country manor when it was occupied by the widow of Gen. Hildreth, 
who died there in 1857, in her eight3'-eighth year. She showed the 
writer a chamber to which it was said Frankland used to retire on the 
annix'ersarj' of his rescue from the earthquake, and there, wearing the 
clothes from which the marks of the catastrophe had not been removed, 



128 CHKOIflCLE OF THE SIEGE. 

keep solemn fast-day.. The house was destroj^ed by an accidental fire 
in 1858. 

After another visit to and residence in Lisbon, as Consul General, 
Frankland returned to Boston in 1763. His failing health took him 
again to England with his wife and Henrj' Cromwell, where he died at 
Bath, in 1768. Lady Agnes, with the boj', herself childless, came back 
to Hopkinton, where the years passed quietly and pleasantly- till the 
siege of Boston. Of course, all the attachments of her later life were 
with those who were shut up in the garrisoned town, while her presence 
and influence were an offence to the rural stock of Hopkinton. 

In answer to her request that she might move to Boston, in order to 
embark for England, the Committee of Safetj-, on Ma3- 15, 1775, " Upon 
the application of Ladj- Frankland, Voted, that she have liberty to pass 
into Boston with the following goods and articles for her voyage, viz. : 
6 trunks ; 1 chest ; 3 beds and bedding ; 6 wethers ; 2 pigs ; 1 small keg 
of pickled tongues ; some hay ; 3 bags of corn ; and such other goods as 
she thinks proper." 

The following permit was granted : — 

" To the Colony Guard: — 

" Permit Lady Frankland, of Hopkinton, with her attendants, goods, and 
the provisions above mentioned, to pass to Boston, by express order of the 
Committee of Safety. 

" BENJAlSilN CHURCH, Jr., Chairmmi. 

" Head-quarters, May 15, 1775." 

Notwithstanding this official action, an armed party in the town of 
Hopkinton, or on the waj' to Boston, under the lead of Mr. Abner 
Craft, resisted the lady's removal. The matter coming before the 
Provincial Congress, on May 18th, a committee was appointed to inquire 
into the facts of the case. On the report of this committee the Congress 
" Resolved, that Mr. Abner Craft be, and hereby is, directed forthwith 
to attend this Congress." After he had attended, made explanation and 
withdrawn, it was further " Resolved, that he should be geutlj^ ad- 
monished by the president, and be assured that the Congress were 
determined to preserve their dignity and power over the military." 



CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 129 

" Resolved, That Lad}- Franklaud be permitted to go into Boston with 
the following articles, viz. : seven truaks, all the beds and furniture to 
them, all the boxes and crates, a basket of chickens and a bag of corn, 
two barrels and a hamper, two horses and two chaises, and all the articles 
in the chaise, excepting arms and ammunition ; one phaeton, some 
tongues, hams and veal, sundr}' small bundles. Which articles, having 
been examined by a committee from this Congress, she is permitted to 
have them carried in, without an}' further examination." 

On the next da}-, Col. Bond, with a guard of sis men, was appointed 
to escort the lady with her effects to Boston, showing to General Thomas, 
at the lines, a copy of the resolves. 

She took refuge temporarilj- at her house on Garden-court street, from 
which she witnessed some of the horrors of the Battle at Charlestown and 
the Conflagration. She gave her services to the nursing of some 
of the wounded. She availed herself of the first opportunity to sail 
with Heurj- Cromwell for England, where, at the age of 57, she died, in 
1783, a j'ear after she had formed a second marriage. 



BENJAMIN THOMPSON, COUNT KUMFORD. 

Another individual, who was destined to attain a world-wide fame as a 
philanthropist and a man of science, appears iu a trj'ing and somewhat 
equivocal position, among those who at this time found refuge iu Boston. 
Born as the son of a farmer in Woburu, in 1753, showing from his 
earliest j'outh some of the qualities of genius, Benjamin Thompson, 
while teaching school in Concord, N. II., had married a rich widow, 
had risen in his social relations, and received, just before the opening of 
hostilities, a military commission from the voyal governor of New Hamp- 
shire. He had come under suspicion at Concord for tory proclivities, 
and being ill treated and threatened there had sought refuge iu his 
native place at Woburn, Mass. Here he had been confined, and, after 
a public examination, the Committee of Correspondence of that town 
had neither acquitted nor condemned him. He therefore appealed to the 
Committee of Safety for a full and fair trial, and an honorable dis- 
charge, alleging that his personal safety and reputation depended upon a 
thorough and impartial investigation of the charges against him. The 



130 CIIEONIOLE OF THE SIEGE. 

only recoguition of bis case on the records of the Provincial Congress, 
is under date of Maj- 20 : " The petition of Benjamin Thompson to the 
Committee of Safety was read, and ordered to subside." 

The young man lingered awhile about Cambridge and Charlestown, 
and asked unsuccessfully for a commission and employment in the army 
that was forming. He did good service in helping to remove the library 
and apparatus of the college. At last, chagrined and irritated, he went 
off to Newport, from which he found passage to Boston. There he so 
ingratiated himself with the roj-alists, that, at the evacuation, he was 
sent bj' Gen. Howe with despatches for Lord George Germaine, under 
whom he became secretary in the department for the American war. 

These countrj' tories found in Boston some fellow-sufferers more or less 
conscientious than themselves, and either by selfish interest or the force 
of associations firm adherents of the ro3'al side. These were such of 
the councillors as had accepted the oflBce on appointment or command 
of the king in contravention of the Province Charter ; crown otiicials, 
and their partisans, with their families, interested in the revenue and in 
supplying the army ; a few merchants and traders, and a coterie of such 
as followed the fashions of the times. Such as these, with a few timid 
but true adherents of the popular cause, made up, with the soldiers, the 
inmates of the garrison. Some of the patriotic remnant kept a watch- 
ful eye on what was transpiring around them, and upon the plans of the 
enemy, and with great risk communicated valuable information to the 
besiegers outside. OccasionalU- a bright j-outh, or a bold man, would 
work his way from the town to the patriot camp. 



FIRE IN BOSTON. 

In the midst of all the direful trials attending the leaving Boston by 
so many of its people, occurred the calamity of a disastrous conflagra- 
tion, on Wednesday, the 17th of May. A party of soldiers were hand- 
ling cartridges in a store used as a barrack on the south side of the 
town dock, when by some accident the cartridges ignited, setting fire to 
the store. The flames spread rapidlj- till some thirty warehouses and 
buildings were destroyed, involving much valuable property, including 
some of the donations that had been sent to the poor of Boston. There 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 131 

was much confusion, as the General had recently put the fire engines 
in charge of the soldiers, who did not know how to use them, and had 
afterwards to call in the aid of the citizens. Instead of ringing the bells 
as usual on an alarm, the soldiers beat the roll-call. There was a 
foolish rumor that the Whigs in the town had set the fire. 



CARE FOR A CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

General Gage was now no longer the Governor of Massachusetts, so 
far as anj- recognized authority- over its people was concerned. His 
commands, orders and proclamations were limited to the little peninsula 
of Boston. The Provincial Congress, at Watertown, in May, resolved, 
that, bj- his arbitrary- course, he had disqualified himself to serve the col- 
ony as Governor, or in anj- other capacity ; that no obedience was due to 
him or his proclamations, and that he should be regarded as an unnatu- 
ral and inveterate enemy to the countiy. They recommended the towns 
and districts to choose Representatives for a General Assembly at Wa- 
tertown, Jul}- 19, opened a subscription for a loan to be committed to a 
Treasui'er of their own, who displaced the King's, and appointed May 
11 for a daj' of fasting and pr.ayer. 

There is a significance in the wording and contents of the successive 
proclamations issued b3- the Provincial and Continental Congresses for 
days of solemn religious observance, Fast and Thanksgiving, marking 
the gradual waning of the sentiment of loyalty, or, at least, of the ex- 
pression of it. The matter and phraseologj- of these papers were evi- 
dently studied with care. The3' were not prepared by clergymen, but 
by lay committees. In the proclamation by which the Provincial Con- 
gress had appointed March 16 for a Fast day, the Divine blessing is 
implored to "rest upon George the Third, our rightful King, and upon 
all the royal family." In the proclamation which appointed May 11 for 
the same sacred observance, the fact is recognized that " the New Eng- 
land colonies are reduced to the ungrateful alternative of a tame submis- 
sion to a state of absolute vassalage to the will of a despotic minister," 
or of meeting the dire necessity by arms in self-defence. The sentiment 
of loyalty breathes only the petition, " that the people of Great Britain 
and their rulers may have their eyes open to discern the things that shall 



132 CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

make for peace," etc. Again, on a report of a committee appointed to 
prepare a resolve for a Fast day on Jiih' 13, an amendment was voted 
for introducing a petition for a "blessing on the Continental Congress," 
and a prayer for the "unity of the colonies." On June 22 the proclama- 
tion was once more recommitted for an amendment, and "Mr. "Webster 
and Deacon Fisher " were added to the committee. AVhen the proclama- 
tion goes forth, the " crueltj- and barbarity " of the two recent assaults 
are emphasized, but neither Parliament nor King finds a place in the 
prayers. But after the appointment of the daj', its observance was 
superseded by a proclamation in which the Continental Congress had 
designated Julj- 20 " as a day of public Inimiliation, fasting and prayer" 
for "the inhabitants of all the English colonies on the continent." In 
this a blessing is invoked upon "our riglitful sovereign, King George 
the Third," and a reconciliation is prayed for "with the parent State, 
on terms constitutional and honorable to both." The varying phraseol- 
ogj' of these documents, bj- which, in good time, God was asked to bless 
and save " tlie People," instead of "the King," was a matter of observa- 
tion and criticism in England. The circulation of the proclamations 
into all the towns, from the pulpits of the churches of wliich they were 
read, followed by observances in the assemblies and the liouses, was 
one of the best mediums of sympathy', influence and confidence between 
the tentative government of the province and the people. That tenta- 
tive government was allowed and recognized, under the emergency, till 
it could find confirmation and exercise authority bj' organic provisions 
and sanctions. 

The following is the replj- of advice and instruction given by the Con- 
tinental Congress in reply to the call from Massachusetts, on Ma3- 16, 
for direction in the matter of civil government : — 

" In Congress, Friday, June 9, 1775. 
" Resolved, That no obedience being due to the Act of Parliament for alter- 
ing the Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, nor to a Governor or Lieu- 
tenant-Governor who will not observe the directions of, but endeavor to sub- 
vert that Charter, the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor are to be considered 
as absent, and these offices vacant. And as there is no Council there, and the 
inconveniences arising from the suspension of the powers of Government are 
intolerable, especially at a time when General Gage hath actually levied war. 



CHKOiaCLE or THE SIEGE. 133 

and is carrying on hostilities against his Majesty's peaceable and loyal sub- 
jects of that colony: that in order to conform as near as may be to the spii'it 
and substance of the Charter, it be recommended to the Provincial Congress 
to write Letters to the Inhabitants of the Several Places which are entitled to 
representation in Assembly, requesting them to choose such representatives ; 
and that the Assembly when chosen should elect Counsellors, which Assem- 
bly and Council should exercise the Powers of Government, until a Governor 
of his Majesty's Appointment will consent to govern the Colony according to 
its Charter. 



" A true copy from the Minutes. 
" Bv order of the Consrress, 



CHARLES THOISIPSON, Sec'ry. 
"JOHN HANCOCK, President:' 



A cop3' of this resolve was sent to the Selectmen of each of the towns 
of the province to direct the choice of Representatives for a Provincial 
Congress to be convened at Watertown on Jul}- 19. The exiled citizens 
of Boston were summoned, by their Town Clerk, to meet at Concord on 
Jul}- 18, to choose their representatives. 

What is said in the preceding Address concerning the peculiar 
characteristics of the official papers, circulars, appeals and other docu- 
ments to be classified under the general term of " State papers," as all 
relating to public interests, and passing between representative or 
administrative bodies, might be richly illustrated if there were space for 
it here. The reader of a mass of those papers will be led to wonder 
where and how the writers of them attained their skill, felicity, acute- 
ness, and extraordinarj- sagacitj' and discretion in the composition of 
them. We can account for the striking abilit}- manifested b}- John 
Adams, for instance, in this direction, partly by native genius and 
intellectual force, and partly bj' his diligent study of every work on law 
and government on which be could laj- bis hands. But the astonishing 
fertility, acuteness and discrimination of his kinsman, Samuel Adams, 
baffle anj- easy explanation. Yet it is not only in those papers 
which emanated from the most conspicuous patriots and leaders that we 
trace the remarkable characteristics more or less common and im- 
pressive in all of them. The publication of a large number of the local 
histories of the older towns of Massachusetts has set before anv one 



134 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

interested to pursue the inquiry a voluminous mass of reports, instruc- 
tions, arguments and counsels relating to the revolutionarj' epoch, 
■written bj- individuals or committees, as we maj- almost saj-, simpl\' b}- 
the light of nature, but exhibiting qualities of real, political, statesmanlike 
ability. The transcendent influence which DeTocqueville so discern- 
ingly assigned to New England town-meetings in inspiriting, guiding 
and leading to a successful issue our great revolutionary struggle, will 
find full confirmation in portions of the contents of these town histories. 
It was hardly strange that, at the time, the British ministry and Parlia- 
ment should have been so mystified and perplexed bj'the real nature and 
phenomena of a Boston or a New England town-meeting. They were in- 
digenous products, self-evolved methods, developments from the soil, 
habits and circumstances of the New England people. Very ingenious, 
but hardly successful, eflTorts have been made, by archreological and anti- 
quarian essayists, to trace similar and parallel institutions in the democ- 
racies of ancient Greece, and in the raunicipalilies of some portions of the 
European continent. But they ^^'ere substantially original and unique 
here. ¥.\ea in the other colonies of the continent, as in the Jerseys, 
Maryland, Virginia -and the Carolinas, counties, and what were called, 
as now, in Louisiana, " parishes," which involved a different municipal 
administration, were found to be an embarrassment in perfecting 
measures that were easily disposed in the New England towns. 

The reader must exercise his own ingenuity in his moralizing or spec- 
ulating upon the contents of our State papers, in that one marked 
characteristic of them, — their avowals of a true loyalty to the King of 
Great Britain in spite of a defiance of all his measures, and a resistance 
of all his agents. Those papers approximate as nearly as was ever yet 
realized to a fountain which sent forth at the same place " both sweet 
■waters and bitter." Gen. Burgoyne, who seems to have occupied some 
of his literary leisui'e here in reading such papers, wrote of them to Lord 
North : " It is more than probable the rebels will be as much averse to 
trust their cause to fair discussion as to the fair- field. Distant skirmish, 
ambush, entrenchment, concealment, are what tliey depend upon in 
debate as in arms." 

Had it been practicable for oue or more members of the British min- 
istry, at the time, to have been present at a town-meeting, somewhere in 



CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 135 

the interior of tlie province, in whicli tlie ana}- and costumes of the citizens 
did not give token of mucli dependence upon broadcloth or the tailor's 
skill, he would probably have found equal amusement and instruction iti 
studying the scene. Men, roughened and hardened b3' toil and exposure, 
would have shown him original specimens of the native training, in rug- 
gedness of independence in ideas, in natural vigor of mind, and in the 
power of expression and composition, using certain liberties of their own 
in grammar, pronunciation and spelling. And if an}' one should think 
it worth his while to digest all the voluminous patriotic papers of those 
daj's to have their pith and marrow of meaning before him, he would 
find that the revolt, of the New England colonies especially, proceeded 
upon three well-understood positions, as facts : — 

First. That these colonies were not planted bv the enterprise, or 
under the patronage of, the crown of England, nor favored and fostered 
bj- foreign sympathy or aid in their early straits ; but were ventures of a 
stern and earnest company of self-exiled men and women, at their own 
private charges and risk, and that they became what thej' grew to be, 
because they were not nurslings of court and Parliament. 

Second. That these colonies first drew the intere'st and suspicion of 
the mother-country, not from anj' regard to their own welfare, but that 
they might be selfishly turned to her account and aggrandizement, so 
that her interference with them was oppressive and tyrannical. 

Third. That the royal and parliamentary sway over the people of these 
colonics involved the radical iniquity of holding them by more rigid 
terms than were imposed upon their own islanders to the obligations of 
Englishmen, while denied the full rights of Euglishmen. 

HARVARD COLLEGE AND CAMBRIDGE. 

It is an interesting fact that the College, planted in the wilderness by 
the first company of English colonists in the Bay of Massachusetts, 
should have been the scene and the centre of the earliest warlike opera- 
tions for the defence of the colony. From her plain halls, and from the 
care and training of such instructors as the resources of tlie time and 
place could furnish, had gone forth some of the foremost of the local 
patriots, and the jealous}- of the spirit which was rising in the land had 



136 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

prompted an inquisitorial investigation into the political views of her 
guardians and administrators. The first recognition of the College in 
the crisis which had now opened around it was in a petition, b}' the 
afterwards eminent engineer, then Major, Loammi Baldwin, addressed to 
the Provincial Congress, June 6, 1775, representing "that General 
Ward had approved of a proposal for taking survej's of the ground 
between the camp of the Massachusetts army and the posts of the 
British troops, and requested the loan of mathematical instruments from 
the appai'atus of Harvard College, to be used in the execution of this 
service." The Congress ordered thereupon, tliat the Rev. President 
Langdon be requested to loan such instruments for the public 
service. 

Two dajs before the battle in Charlestown, on the report of a com- 
mittee to whom the business had been referred, the following careful 
provision was made b}' the Congress: "Whereas, it is expedient that 
those apartments in Harvard Hall, under the immediate charge of the 
Professor of Philosophj' and Librarian of Harvard College, be evacuated, 
Resolved, That the librarv, apparatus, and other valuables of Harvard 
College, be removed as soon as may be to the Town of Andover," — a 
committee being designated " to consult with the Rev. President, the 
Hon. Mr. Winthrop [Professor], and the Librarian, or such of them as 
may be conveniently obtained, and with them to engage some suitable 
person or persons in said town, to transport, receive, and take the charge 
of the above-mentioned effects," — great care being taken in the pack- 
ing, removing, and safe transfer of the articles, the charges to be borne 
bj' the public. It appears, \>y a resolve on June 23, that there was a 
delay in carrying out this arrangement. The future Count Rumford, 
then Benjamin Thompson, at the age of twentj'-two, showed his interest 
in science by volunteering his aid in the removal of the College property. 
A quantity of the province arms was soon deposited in the librarj- hall. 
The Committee of Safety had voted, Maj' 1, "That the quartermaster- 
general be directed to clear that chamber in Stoughton College, occupied 
by S. Parsons, Jr., for a printing office for Messrs. Halls." Samuel and 
Ebenezcr Hall, who had been printing the "Essex Gazette" in Salem, 
had been induced to remove their press to Cambridge, and from their 
office in Stoughton Hall, they issued, on the 10th of August, the first num- 



CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 137 

ber of the " New Euglaud Chronicle, or the Weekly Gazette." Tiie 
other halls of the College were soou surrendered for barracks and 
ollices. With all the cares pressing upon the self-constituted civil 
authorities of the time, the}^ did not fail to recognize the qlaiins of such 
of the ejected students as were that summer entitled to their academic 
degrees ; so thej- provided for calling together as many of the overseers 
as could be reached, to bestow them. Some of the finest and noblest 
private mansions in the province, with broad acres around them, were in 
Cambridge, and belonged to those whose sympathies were with the royal 
part}'. Happily most of these mansions still stand to-daj', some of them 
enriched alike by memories of patriotism and by the literary fame 
and honors of their later occupants. For the crisis they served for 
military uses. 

Washington, on coming to Cambridge, found a temporary' home in 
the dwelling then appropriated to the President of the College, which is 
still in good preservation. The owner of the grandest of the Cambridge 
mansions, Major John Vassal, being a tor^-, had sought the protection of 
the British General, in Boston. His house had been for a short time 
occupied by Col. Glover, and also had been appropriated to the Com- 
mittee of Safety. On the journal of that committee for July 8, 1775, 
we read the following : — 

" Whereas, it is necessai-y that the house of Mr. John "Vassal, ordered by 
Congress for the residence of His Excellency General Washington, should be 
immediately put in such condition as may make it convenient for that purpose, 
therefore, Resolved, that Mr. Timothy Austin be, and hereby is, empowered and 
authorized, to put said house in proper order for the purposes above men- 
tioned, and that he procure such assistance and furniture as may be necessary 
to put said house in proper condition for the reception of His Excellency and 
his attendants." 



In his confidential letters to Joseph Reed, Washington communicates 
his purposes and methods of a generous and impartial hospitalit}' in that 
mansion, and also some of his embarrassments and discomfitures in the 
matter. The journals and letters of many distinguished men and 
women, which are extant, record that their writers shared those hosj)!- 
18 



138 CHRONICLE or THE SIEGE. 

talities, with tlioir impressions of the courtcsj- and dignity of the host 
and hostess. 

It was a pleasant coincidence tliat Mr. Sparks, the biographer of 
Washington, and the editor of his voluminous papers, should iiave done 
much of his work of almost idolatrous love for the chief, in the house 
and room where so manj' of those papers were written. 

THE TKOVINCIAL FOKTiriCATIONS. 

Some slight intrenchnients of the nature of fortified lines, incident to 
the first steps towards the formation of a camp, had been made by the 
provincials when they first rallied at Cambridge. Upon the retreat from 
the redoubt on Breed's Hill, and from the rail fence, on June 17th, Gen. 
Putnam had in vain attempted to have a stand made on the higher 
summit of Bunker's Hill. But this point, seemingly of necessit3-, was 
yielded to the cnem3-. Gen. Howe continued upon the ground, which 
was immediately secured by strong works, commanding the Neck and 
the direction of the provincial camp. Onlj- thirty or fort}- jears ago 
these works, now wholly obliterated, were easily to be traced, and 
looked formidable in their softened outlines. Howe continued in com- 
mand of the British detachment in Charlestown, till he succeeded Gage 
as commander-in-chief, on the recall of tiie latter in the following 
October, when Gen. Clinton was sent to Charlestown. Putnam, with a 
corps of volunteers, on the night following the battle, working with 
heroic diligence, threw up intrenchments upon the high and beautiful 
rounded summit known with equal appropriateness by the two names 
of Prospect Hill and Mount Pisgah. There were two crests to the 
summit, one of them since known as Spring Hill, both of which, before 
the end of the month, were so strengthened as to be regarded tenable 
against an attack, while held bj' nearlj- four thousand men. The 
forces at Cambridge and Charlestown were in full view from this hill. 
Within the last ten years the spade and the pickaxe have been 
levelling it for the uses of thrift and health, principally to fill the basin 
of Miller's river, in East Cambridge. Here, too, mitil quite recent 
years, fosse and rampart had left their traces, and the site was a favor- 
able one for recalling the scenes of the past. 



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CHROXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 139 

In making so instantaneous a stand on this Hill, which continued to 
be one of the strongest points during the whole siege, and which was 
regarded at first as in venturesome proximity to the enemj- in Charles- 
town, Putnam left two smaller hills between him and Bunker's Hill, to 
await the disposition of subsequent events. These were Ploughed Hill, 
so called because it was the only one of the neighboring summits which 
at that time had been cultivated, which has since been known as Mount 
Benedict, the site of a Roman Catholic convent-school, and which also 
is now being rapidl.y levelled ; and Cobble Hill, now covered bj- the 
Appleton wards and the grounds of the McLean Asylum. These two 
hills came in due season, when Washington had mastered his resources, 
to form part of his fortifications, and were intrenched and held in open 
defiance of the attempts made by the enemy to withstand their occu- 
panc}' by a brisk bombardment by land and water. It seems to have 
been a matter of unexplained wonder, at the time, that the British 
should not have anticipated the provincials in taking possession of 
some of these summits, or at least have been ready to thwart every 
attempt at their fortification by their foe. But after Prospect Hill had 
been seized and strengthened it would have been exceedingly difficult, 
if not impossible, for the British to have taken and held either Ploughed 
or Cobble Hill. Besides, if they had held both of them, what more or 
next could thej- have done? It required their utmost efforts to hold 
their ground on their two peninsulas, aided 113- their gun-boats. Thej- 
had early found that the cost of taking a hill from the provincials was 
very heavy, and as such hills were lavishly scattered upon the coast and 
clustered in the interior, they seem to have concluded that the provin- 
cials were likelj' alwa3's to have the larger share of them. 

The lines between the opposing forces, within their respective intrench- 
raents, approximated so closely that the sentries exchanged news, banter 
and compliments, and deserters found an easy transit. Among the 
humors of the situation the provincials availed themselves of the oppor- 
tunitj- to send, on the wings of a favoring breeze, or bj- messengers with 
flags, large numbers of a satirical print,— of which a fac-simile is given 
on an adjoining leaf, — containing an address of remonstrance to the 
British soldiers, and a contrast of the bills of fare, the wages, and the 
looked-for rewards of the respective combatants on Bunker's and Pros- 



140 CHKONICLE OP THE SIEGE. 

pect Hills. A small mill, a few houses, sheds, barns, and trees between 
the lines formed prizes contested in the later stages of the struggle. 

On the same night following the battle at Charlestown a few New 
Hampshire troops cccxipied, and began to fortify, the lofty and swelling 
summit of Winter Hill, standing behind Prospect Hill, and midway 
between Cambridge and Mcdford. Under General P^olsom the works 
here were so extended and formidable by the close of the month, that the 
hill, next to that in Eoxbury to be soon referred to, became the most 
secure of all the provincial defences. A skirting of breastworks ran 
from the marsh lands near Charlestown Neck, all the way to the banks 
of Charles river in Cambridge, with several redoubts, half-moons, 
and more substantial earth-works on the elevated spots and exposed 
points along the course. 

The most critical point to be secured and defended was that which 
should guard the only outlet from Boston b^- land, at Eoxbury Neck. 
Here, too, the natural features of the region favored the plans of the 
provincials. Before the stand-pipe of the Cochituate Water Works was 
erected at the Highlands, in Eoxbury, a stroller over the precipitous and 
rocky declivities of ihat eminence would have regarded it as a natural 
fortification, independent!}- of the remains of the works still visible upon 
it. These works were constructed under the superintendence of Generals 
Thomas and Knox, and were very strong, and shot could be thrown from 
them into Boston. Breastworks and intrenchments on the low lands on 
both sides, across the roads, on Sewall's point, on the Meeting-house 
hill, and on the road to Dorchester, had been begun, and more or less 
advanced before the arrival of Washington. A redoubt had been begun 
on the Ten Hills Farm, to command access through the Mystic river. ■ 
Colonel Gridlej- and his son, with such scientific and practical assistance 
as thej' could summon to aid them, gave their labor, as engineers, to 
these works, though with slender help from proper implements. Shot 
and shell were occasionally thrown from Boston while these works were 
in progress, but more than an offset to the mischief effected by them 
was made bj- some of the Indians and riflemen on the provincial side, 
who picked off the British sentries. Skirmishes at Boston Neck, shells 
thrown with some damage into Roxburj", and collisions between parties 
at the lines, seemed from the first to indicate the relations which were to 



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Addrefs to the Soldiers. 

Gentlemen, 

YOU are about to embark for America, to compel your 
Fellow Subjects there to fubmit to Popekv and 
Slavery. 

It is the Glory of the Britifh Soldier, that he is the 
Defender, not the Deftroyer, of the Civil and Religious 
Rights of the People. The EngUPi Soldiery are immor- 
talized in Hiftory, for their Attachment to the religion 
and Liberties of their Country. 

When King James the Second endeavoured to intro- 
duce the Roman-catholic Religion and arbitrary Power 
into Great Britain, he had an Army encamped on Houn- 
Jloiv-Heath, to terrify the People. Seven Billiops were 
feized upon, and fent to the Tower. But they appealed 
to the Laws of their Country, and were fet at Liberty. 
When this News reached the Camp, the Shouts of Joy 
were fo great, that they re-echoed in the Royal Palace. 
This, however, did not quite convince the King, of the 
Averfion of the Soldiers to be the Inftruments of Op- 
preffion againft their Fellow Subjects. He therefore made 
another trial. He ordered the Guards to be drawn up, 
and the Word was given, that thofe who did not chufe to 
fupport the King's Meafures, fliould ground their Arms. 
When, behold, to his utter confufion, and their eternal 
Honour — the whole Body ground their Arms. 

You, gentlemen, will foon have an Opportunity of 
iTiewing equal Virtue. You will be called upon to im- 
brue your Hands in the Blood of your Fellow Subje6ts in 
America, becaufe they will not admit to be Slaves, and 
are alarmed at the PZftablilhment of Popery and Arbitrary 
Power in One Half of their Country. 

Whether you will draw thofe Swords which have de- 
fended them againft their Enemies, to butcher them into 
a Refignation of their Rights, which they hold as the 
Sons of EngUPimen, is in your Breafts. That you will 
not ftain the Laurels you have gained from France, by 
dip])ing them in Civil Blood, is every good Man's Hope. 

Arts will no doubt be ufed to perfuade you, that it is 
your Duty to obey Orders ; and that you are fent upon 
the juft and righteous Errand of crufhing Rebellion. 
But your own Hearts will tell you, that the People may 
be fo ill treated, as to make Refiftance neceffary. You 
know, that Violence and Injury offered from one Man to 
another, has always fome Pretence of Right or Reafon 
to juftify it. So" it is between the People and their 
Rulers. 

Therefore, whatever hard Names and heavy Accufa- 
fations may be beftowed upon your Fellow Subje6ls in 
America, be affured they have not deferved them ; but 
are driven, by the moft cruel Treatment, into Defpair. 
In this Defpair they are compelled to defend their Liber- 
ties, after having tried, in Vain, every peaceable Means 
of obtaining Redrefs of their manifold Grievances. 

Before God and Man they are right. 
Your Honour, then. Gentlemen, as Soldiers, and your 
Humanity as Men, forbid you to be the Inftruments of 
forcing Chains upon your injured and oppreffed Fellow 
Subjects. Remember that your firft obedience is due 
to God, and that whoever bids you flied innocent Blood, 
bids you a6t contrary to his Commandments. 
I am, Gentlemen, 

your fmcere Well-wifiier, 

AN OLD SOLDIER. 



CHKOlSaCLE OF THE SIEGE. 141 

continue between the besieged and the besiegers through the lengthened 
issue. Behind the Rosbury works was an elevation known as Wales 
Hill, which was afterwards designated bj' Washington as a rendezvous if 
the enetnj' sliould break our lines at anj' point. Men in whale-boats 
■were soon kept at watch near the marshes to give intelligence of any 
movement of the enemv bj- water. There was a constant apprehension 
that all the above works might be assailed at any hour. 

Washington, on his arrival, immediately divided his attention between 
the new organization of the rank and file necessary to initiate the con- 
tinental adoption of the arm}-, and the examination of the fortifications. 
He found these works wisel}- and efiectively begun, and he directed the 
strengthening and extending of them, filling exposed points, and secur- 
ing safer communications between them. His scrutiny was sharp, and 
the severe discipline which he at once established, though it caused some 
fretfulness among a portion of those whose former heedlessness it 
rebuked, was A-ery soon yielded to with added securitj- to the camp. 

It was not to be supposed that Gen. Howe on Bunker's Hill would be 
content with the narrow limits of his lines in the direction of Cambridge 
and Medford, and some threatening movements of his made Washington 
anxious about the two eminences above referred to. Ploughed Hill and 
Cobble Hill, which remained unoccupied. He planned a bold enterprise, 
and offered a strong provocation to Howe, when, on the night of Aug. 
26, he ordered a working party of a thousand men, with a guard of 
twentj--four hundred, under General Sullivan, to occup}- and intrench 
upon Ploughed Hill, which was directl}' within cannon range of Bunker's 
Hill, and of gun-boats in the Mystic. The feat was successfully accom- 
plished with the loss of but two men, while a single ten-pounder on the 
Ten Hills batterj- sunk one gun-boat in the M3'stic and silenced another. 
The enemj' seemed to be pi-eparing for an assault on the new works, and 
an anxious preparation was made to receive tliera, scanty as was the 
ammunition of the provincials. But it was a threat onl_v. For a fort- 
night a desultory bomliardment was continued, but each night and day 
strengtliened the works, and the enemy gave over the ineffective assault 
upon them. 

It was not until the 22d of November that the other hill was occupied, 
after tliere had been a sharp struggle at Lechmere's Point rising from 



142 CHKOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

the marshes near it. The works here were made under Generals Put- 
nam and Heath. This, which was one of the most daring enterprises in 
the whole series, was accomplished without meeting the slightest opposi- 
tion from the enemy. A battery was a few days after planted at the 
Point, and in the severest weather of December, this was extended and 
effectivel}' strengthened. The British violently contested the completion 
of the works at this Point, with water batteries. It was at the most 
anxious crisis of affairs in the American camp, as the term of enlistments 
was expiring, and new recruits came in but slowh", and there was still an 
alarming deficiency of powder. The new works approached most closely 
of any to the thicklj' occupied part of Boston, and with proper artillery 
most destructive operations might have been performed from them. 
From time to time such militar}' compliments as the resources of the 
provincials allowed them to send passed from Cobble Hill and Lechmere 
Point into Boston, and from letters written there at the time it seems 
that they caused much consternation. Tliese works, with the strength- 
ening of those at Sewall's Point and Lamb's Dam on the right wing 
of tlie camp, completed tlic provincial defences. 

RAIDS ON THE HARBOR ISLANDS. 

There had been a skirmish on Grape Island, lying near the South shore 
of the Bay, on Sunday, May 21, between a party of the British who had 
gone there in sloops to remove some hay, and a party of countrj-men 
from Weymouth, in which the latter burnt some eight}' tons of hay and a 
barn, and took off the cattle. On the 27th of the same month, in 
obedience to an order of the Committee of Safetj' for the removal of live 
stock from the islands, a party of provincials went for the purpose to 
ITog and Noddle's Islands. They were fired upon from the vessels, and 
some marines put off in boats to prevent the undertaking. Of these, two 
were killed and two were wounded. The provincials succeeded in 
driving off three or four hundred live stock, and, when reinforced, 
disabled a British schooner whicli grounded, stripped her of guns and 
sails, witli clotliiug and money, and then burned her while under fire 
from a sloop. Four of the provincials were wounded only, while of the 
British man}' wore killed. Widiin the four following da3's other raids 



CHKONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 143 

were made by the provincials on Noddle's, Pettick's and Deer Islands, 
securing large numbers of sheep, cattle and horses, with hay. In the 
last expedition, on the night of June 2, a British barge was captured 
with four prisoners. 

On the 12th of Jul^- a party of a hundred and thirty-six men, under 
Major Greaton, who had led the exploit at Deer Island, landed from 
whale-boats on Long Island, where the British had stored a large 
quantity of hay for their horses. While the partj' were burning this, 
with the house and barns, they were cannonaded from some of the 
vessels, one of which with barges approached the island. The party 
barel}' succeeded in escaping with the loss of one man. 

Though the 20th of Jul)- was a d.ay appointed for solemn fasting and 
prayer, and orders had been issued for its most devout observance, with 
a pause from all needless work, the troops going to worship fully armed, 
the temptation presented itself to a party, under Major Vose, of Heath's 
Regiment, starting before daylight, to land from whale-boats at Nan- 
tasket Point. Here they dismantled and burned the light-house, carrying 
off the ai)paratus, and afterwards brought away a large quantity of 
barley and hay. Thcj' were fired upon from the vessels, two being 
wounded. The party also made a raid on Point Shirley. Not satisfied 
with this one successful enterprise of darkening the harbor, it was 
determined to prevent the rebuilding of the light-house on which work- 
men were soon engaged. A part)- of three hundred men, under Major 
Tupper, was ordered there the last day of the month, who effected a 
landing, killed a dozen of the workmen, made prisoners of the rest, and 
destroyed the reconstructed works. Being left by the tide they were 
assailed by a strong force in boats, one of which was sunk bj' a field 
piece on Nantasket Point, with several of its men. The partj' got ofi" 
with the loss of but one man, having killed and taken fifty-three of the 
enemj'. The Major and his party received the next day the special 
thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, in general orders, for their gallantry. 
The Admiral of the fleet announced the destruction of the lights in the 
harbor and at Cape Ann. No single act of the provincials caused more 
chagrin to the enemj- than this. When reported in London it was made 
the theme for most biting sarcasm. They were soon to hear of yet more 
daring and humiliating success of the provincials on the water, in tlie 



IM CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

capture of store-vessels laden down with all the muniments and supplies 
of war, without a gun on their decks. On Sept. 27 two hundred men, 
under Major Tupper, landed from whale-boats on Governor's Island, 
burned a small vessel read^- for launching, and brought off cattle and 
horses with full impunity-. 

In connection with these bold ventures of the provincials, to secure 
their own property* on the harbor islands, it is amusing to read the secret 
disclosures which Burgoj-ne made at the time in a private letter to Lord 
George Germaiue, dated Boston, Aug. 20, 1775. lie wrote about 
Graves : — 

" It may be asked in England, what is the Adminal doing? 

"I wish I were able to answer that question satisfactorily; but I can only 
say what he is not doing. 

" That he is not supplying us with sheep and oxen, the dinners of the best 
of us bear meagre testimony ; the state of our hospitals bears a more melan- 
choly one. 

" He is not defending his own flocks and herds ; for the enemy have 
repeatedly plundered his own islands." 

"He is not defending the other islands in the harbor; for the enemy, in 
force, landed from a great number of boats, and burned the light-house at 
noonday (liaving first killed and taken the party of marines which was posted 
there) almost under the guns of two or three men-of-war. 

" He is not employing his ships to keei) up communication and intelligence 
with the king's servants and friends at the different parts of the continent; for 
I do not believe General Gage has received a letter from any correspondent 
out of Boston these six weeks. 

" He is intent upon greater objects, you will think, supporting in the great 
points the dignity of the British flag, — and where a number of boats have 
been built for the enemy, privateers fitted out, prizes carried in, the king's 
armed vessels sunk, the crews made prisoners, the officers killed, — he is 
doubtless enforcing instant restitution and reparation by the voice of his 
cannon, and laying the towns in ashes that refuse his terms. Alas ! he is 
not. British thunder is diverted or controlled by pitiful attentions and 
mere Quaker-like scruples ; and under such influences, insult and impunity, 
like righteousness and peace, have kissed each other." 

The King had written to Lord North, on Jul}' 28, " I do think the 
Admiral's removal as necessary, if what is reported is founded, as the 
mild General's" [Gage]. 



CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 145 



INCIDENTS IN THE PROVINCIAL CAMP. 

It was a remarkable coincidence that while a local conflict, arising 
from a controversy between the motlier-countrj and one of her provinces, 
was about to transpire on the heights of Cliarlestown, the Continental 
Congi-ess at Philadelphia should have adopted measures for national- 
izing that controversy-, and for making the provincial forces the nucleus 
of a continental army. It was a great step for the continental delegates 
from Massachusetts and the other New England provinces to have 
secured that result. Some of the most curious details of the debates 
and business, and of the workings of secret influences, at Philadelphia, 
which have come to light, reveal to us with what astuteness and sagacity 
the Massachusetts delegates managed to keep their special aims and 
wishes in abeyance, that they might not appear to force their local 
interests and partialities upon the action of their Southern associates. 
The peculiar traits and views of the leaders and the people of this 
region were not altogether attractive to the members of the Congress 
from other sections, and it was but shrewd calculation on the part of the 
two Adamses, Hancock, and others, to allow the common feeling, which 
they desired, to grow naturally without being foi'ced through their 
obtrusion of it. If there was to be a continental adoption of a provincial 
arniv, it must have a Southern commander. Happily Providence and 
Virginia came to the help of policy in furnishing one. How General 
Ward accepted the necessitj' which superseded him in his office calls for 
no discussion here. There was no expression or manifestation of any 
other feelings than those of delight and welcome, with warm-hearted 
and respectful addresses to Washington, when he appeared on the scene. 
The extensive and level space of Cambridge Common displayed before 
his eyes the material in men and accoutrements, such as thej' were, on 
which his exacting task began. 

We have a ver^' lively description of the camp, as it appeared im- 
mediately after Washington had taken command, from the pen of the 
Rev. AVm. Emerson, of Concord, a chaplain of the army : — 

" There is great overturning in the camp as to order and regularity. New 
lords, new laws. The Generals Washington and Lee are upon the lines 
19 



146 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

every day. New orders from His Excellency are read to the respective regi- 
ments every morning after prayers. The strictest government is taking 
place, and great distinction is made between officers and soldiers. Every one 
is made to know his place and keep in it, or be tied up and receive thirty 
or forty lashes according to his crime. Thousands are at work every day 
from four till eleven o'clock in the morning. It is surprising how much work 
has been done. The lines are extended almost from Cambridge to Mystic 
river, so that very soon it will be morally impossible for the enemy to get 
between the works, except in one place, which is supposed to be left pur- 
posely unfortified to entice the enemy out of their fortresses. Who would 
have thought twelve months past that all Cambridge and Charlestown would 
be covered over with American camps, and cut up into forts and intrench- 
ments, and all the lands, fields, orchards, laid common, cattle feeding in the 
choicest mowing-land, whole fields of corn eaten down to the ground, and 
large parks of well-regulated locusts cut down for firewood and other public 
uses. This, I must say, looks a little melancholy. 

" My quarters are at the foot of the famous Prospect Hill, where such great 
preparations are made for the reception of the enemy. It is very diverting 
to walk among the camps. They are as different in their form as the owners 
are in their dress ; and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of 
the persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards and some of sail- 
cloth ; some partly of one and partly of the other. Again, others are made 
of stone and turf, brick or brush ; some are thrown up in a hurry ; others 
curiously wrought with doors and windows, done with wreaths and withes in the 
manner of a basket. Some are your projier tents and marquees, looking like 
the regular camp of the enemy. In these are the Rhode Islanders, who are 
furnished with tent-equipage and everything in the most exact English style. 
However, I think this great variety is rather a beauty than a blemish in the 
array." — (Sparks'' Washington.) 

CORRESPONDENCE OF GENERALS LEE AND BURGOYNE. 

A curious episode, which must have furnished a momentary excitement 
in the camp, occurred at this time. The impulsive and unstable Charles 
Lee, who had been commissioned as a Major General by the Congress, 
had served under Burgoyne as a British officer in Portugal. When Lee, 
before he had been commissioned, heard of the arrival of Burgoyne 
in Boston, he addressed him from Philadelphia, on June 7th, a letter 
which did not reach him until a month afterwards. He wrote iu strong 



CHROXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 147 

terms of affection and respect, j'et as to one " seduced into an impious 
aud nefarious service, by the artifice of a wicked and insidious court and 
cabinet," whose " wickedness and treachery he has himself experienced " 
in his former niilitar}- relations. He expresses gratification that, as he 
had learned, Burgoj'ne had come here, not of his own seeking, but on the 
King's positive command, but assures him that his errand is mean and 
unrighteous, and will prove a failure, as the colonies will never j-ield to 
the usurpation and tj'ranuy of the court. He protests against the silly 
confidence of the British that the provincials are cowards and will not 
fight. He is amazed also that his loved and revered friend. Gen. Howe, 
should engage in such a cause. Yet, whatever " the accursed misrulers " 
shall dictate, Burgoj'ne shall have his person.al affection. 

'By permission of his superior, Bui-goyne replied to this letter on July 
8th, soon after it came to his hands, addressing Lee in friendly' and 
familiar terms, trying to oflfset his pleadings, and then proposing to meet 
him for an interview, and a discussion, at Brown's house on the Xeck, 
with respective covenants and parole of honor for the safe return of both 
parties. Lee submitted Burgoj'ne's letter to the Provincial Congress, 
suggesting that if the interview should be allowed, they would designate a 
gentleman of their bod^- to be a witness of it with him. Mr. Elbridge 
Gerry was appointed for that purpose, and the Congress addressed a 
hesitating letter to Burgoyne informing him of the appointment. But 
here the matter was arrested. The Congress did not appro\-e of the 
proposed meeting. "Without mentioning this fact, Lee addressed Bur- 
goyne a short note from Cambridge, Julj' 11th, in which he sa3's, that 
as thej' both have unalterably formed their convictions, an interview 
would onl3- create jealousies and suspicions. He closes thus : " I must, 
therefore, defer the happiness of embracing a man whom I most sincerel}^ 
love, until the subversion of the present tyrannical ministry and sj-stem, 
which I am persuaded must be iu a few months, as I know Great Britain 
cannot stand the contest." 

This correspondence was made public and freel}- commented upon at 
the time, on both sides of the water. But there has come to light this 
j'e.ar a confidential paper, which adds an amusing and startling ingredient 
to it. It is a letter of Burgoyne's to Lord North, inclosing the corrc- 
spomlencp with Lee. The latter had spoken of the minister as " tlie 



148 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

felonious North." As his ej-e woiihl have to fall on this epithet, Bur- 
g03-ne apologizes b}- writing that he had intended to have sent onlj' ex- 
tracts, " leaving out those virulent apostrophes which stand like oaths at 
Billingsgate, for expletives when reason fails" — but as the whole corre- 
spondence has been printed, his caution would not avail. He writes very 
ditferently about Lee, from the tone and style in which he had written to 
him. His chief object had been to have obtained an inten'iew with Lee, 
in which he would "have cut him short in that paltrj- jargon of invec- 
tive" against ministers, and pressed him with the fallacy and frenzj^ of 
his notions. Burgoyne proceeds: "I would then have endeavored to 
touch his pride, his interest, and his ambition. I know the ruling pas- 
sion of Lee's mind to be avarice ; the foundation of his apostasy I be- 
lieve to be resentment." Working from that interpretation and estimate 
of Lee's character, Burgoj^ne goes on to explain to the minister the 
method by which he was fully confident he could have won over the 
American general to his previous service under the king. He thought 
it probable that "though Lee would have started at a direct bribe, he 
might have caught at an overture of changing his partj' to gratify his 
interest, provided an^- salvo were suggested for his integrity, — a point 
in which many a man fancies he possesses more than he really does. It 
is not impossible that the example of General Monk might have pre- 
sented itself to his imagination," etc., etc. If Lee could be thus " secretly 
bought over, the services he might do are great ; and very great, I con- 
fess, they ought to be to atone for his offences." Burgoj-ne offers this 
precious plea to the minister to palliate his having used mild and friendly 
terms in writing to a traitor whose life was forfeited. It seems, too, 
that Lee had written still another letter to Burgoyne, of which extracts 
were enclosed to Lord North, though neither the original nor these are 
forthcoming. From the comments upon it, it appears that Lee had in it 
expressed his alarm that the British intended to employ Indian allies, 
and also his positive knowledge " that France and Spain were readj' to 
accept the colonies." 

Burgoyne did not restrict his estimate of venality to Lee. For in an- 
other confidential letter he writes, " There is hardly a leading man among 
the rebels, in council or in the field, but at a proper time, and by proper 
management, might have been bought." He makes an exception, how- 



CHRO?«lCLE OF THE SIEGE. 149 

ever, for either John or Sam. Adams, whom he confuses together, 
though what he writes was equallj' true of both of them. " I believe Ad- 
ams to be as great a conspirator as ever subverted a State. Be assured, 
my lord, this man soars too high to be allured b}' anj- offer Great Brit- 
ain can make to himself or to his country. America, if his counsels 
continue in force, must be subdued or relinquished. She will not be 
reconciled." 



A PRELIMINARY TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

One year before the Continental Congiess took the long-delayed and 
decisive step of declaring Independence, it preceded the measure by what 
it regarded nnder the circumstances as eqnallj- decisive, though to us it 
seems merely temporizing, the issuing, on July 6, 1775, a declaration 
of the reasons for taking up arms. The declaration represented this as 
the alternative of " unconditional submission to irritated ministers." 
Thej* review the wrongs the}' have suffered, and the outrages which have 
been inflicted upon tlie colonies ; refuse to make terms separately ; insist 
upon being treated as a united body ; resolve to die free men rather than 
slaves ; and jet they still disavow a " design of separating from Great 
Britain, and establishing independent States." 

A solemn occasion was made in the camp for publishing this paper. 
The Declaration was read on Cambridge Common on July 15tli, by 
President Langdon, in presence of the General, his officers, and a mass 
of people, and was received with enthusiastic responses. It was also 
read to the soldiers under Putnam, on Prospect Hill, on the 18th ; and, 
after a solemn address and prayer bj- the Chaplain, Mr. Leonard, at 
Putnam's word the soldiers cheered and shouted their approval. A 
cannon was discharged, and Putnam displaj-cd a Connecticut flag, with 
its motto. Qui Transtulit Svstinet; " The Philistines on Bunker's Hill," 
being dismajed by this outburst of " the Israelites." 

A stir was made in the camp on Sept. 13th, by the fitting out of an 
expedition, under Arnold, for Quebec. 



150 CHRONICLE or THE SIEGE. 



ARRIVAL AND CONFERENCE OF A COMMITTEE FROM CONGRESS. 

Tlie Comniander was cheered by the arri\al at the camp, on October 
1.5th, of a committee speciall}' appointed for the purpose by the bod}- at 
Philadelphia, witli which his only previous channel of intercourse had 
been by letters. Dr. Franklin, Lj-nch, of Carolina, and Harrison of 
Virginia, came as a committee on a reconstruction of the arm}'. Official 
representatives from this and the other N. E. provinces were present. 
Amicable and earnest discussion resulted in measures which were higlily 
encouraging to the Commander, and which rallied his hopefulness. 
Still, with the winter approaching, he was anxious to take some effective 
action against the besieged enemy. He retained the delegates till the 
24th, and wished their advice on a measure which he had proposed to a 
Council of War as to an assault on Boston by bombardment. His 
officers in council, admitting that such an attempt was desirable, thought 
it impracticable. The Committee from Congress advised that the project 
be referred to the decision of that body. It was not till two months 
afterwards that Congress gave Washington authority to destroy the 
capital. While he was on this visit to the camp Franklin made over to 
a Committee of the Massachusetts Assembly the sum of £100, which 
had been sent to him by sympathizers in England, to relieve the wounded, 
■widows and children, sufferers by the battle at Lexington. After 
the formal convention at the camp was closed, the committfee re- 
mained for friendly discussion on many important matters. They 
revised the articles of war, made suggestions to the Congress, pro- 
posed regulations about prizes and provisions captured at sea, the ex- 
change of prisoners, and the employment of Indians, and so defining 
and conforming the authority of the Commander as greatly to strengtlien 
and encourage him. Congress confirmed all their action. 

In October, intelligence of a most irritating and alarming character 
was received in the camp, of the burning, by Lieut. Mowatt, on the 18th, 
of 500 houses, and 14 vessels, at Falmouth, now Portland, Me. Wash- 
ington was earnestly entreated, by the people of the sea-board towns, 
who were constantly in dread of similar outrages from the British fleet, 
to send detachments from the army for their protection. He replied 



CHKONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 151 

with strong expressions of sj'mpathy, but Lie could not by compliance 
reduce bis own insufficient forces. 

DK. BENJAMIN CHURCH CHARGED WITH TREACHERY. 

This gentleman, who was a gi-aduate of Harvard, a poet, a prominent 
patriot with pen and tongue, a member of the Provincial Congress, and 
who, when sent on a mission to the Continental Congress, had obtained 
the appointment of Surgeon-General of the Army, and Militarj- Director 
of Hospitals, came under suspicion from being detected, about the first 
of October, in con-espondence with a brother-in-law in Boston, who was 
a tory. His medium was a woman, and a letter of his was intercepted, 
written in cipher, and with some difflcultj' interpreted. The letter is 
certainlj- ambiguous in its contents, but the circumstances justified his 
arrest and confinement. He was allowed a full hearing at his examina- 
tion before the General Court, at Watertown, on the charge of com- 
municating information to the enemy. His ingenious but evasive plea 
in his defence was not satisfactory, and he was expelled from the House. 
Washington laid the case before the Continental Congress, which sen- 
tenced him to be confined in a jail in Connecticut, without pen, ink, or 
paper, or privilege of private intercourse. On the score of failing health 
he obtained relaxation in the terms, and a change of the place of his 
duress, and finall}- permission to sail for the West Indies. The vessel 
in which he took passage was never heard of. 

A VISITOR TO THE CAMP. 

We have an interesting account of a visit to the camp in the Life of 
Jeremy Belknap, a minister in Dover, N. H., afterwards of Boston, the 
historian of New Hampshire, and a principal founder of the Mass. His- 
torical Society. He was a native of Boston, and the tidings of the 
afl'air at Lexington reaching him soon after its occurrence, he hurried 
hither, leaving his parish to excuse his absence from his pulpit on 
Sunday-, while he took filial care for his parents in the town. He 
remained at Cambridge more than a week, in April, before lie could 
bring about an interview with them and their removal. In the interval 



152 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

he wrote to his wife, " Don't let 1113^ gun and ammunition get out of the 
house, if j-ou can help it." The state of his health compelled him to 
decline the apiJointment as chaplain of the camp to the New Hampshire 
troops, but, agreeing to take his turn in preaching there to the soldiers, 
he visited the camp for that purpose in October. In the discharge of his 
clerical offices there he was given to understand " that it was offensive 
to pray for the king," though the Congress had not yet renounced 
allegiance to him as " our rightful sovereign." Under Oct. 20th, he 
writes : — 

" I prayed with Gen. Thomas' regiment, quartered at Koxbury, and after- 
wards visited the lines in company with an offlcer of the picquet guard. 
Nothing struck me with more horror than the present condition of Roxbury ; 
that once busy, crowded street is now occupied only by a picquet guard, 
The houses are deserted, the windows are taken out, and many shot-holes 
are visible ; some have been burnt, and others pulled down to make room for 
the fortifications. A wall of earth is carried across the street to Williams' old 
house, where there is a formidable fort mounted with cannon. The lower 
line is just below where the George Tavern stood ; a row of trees, root and 
branch, lies across the road there, and the breastwork extends to Lamb's Dam, 
which form a part thereof. I went round, the whole, and was so near the 
enemy as to see them (though it was foggy and rainy) relieve their sentries, 
wlilch they do every hour. Their outmost sentries are posted at the chimneys 
of Brown's house." [The rebels had burned tliis house.] 

"After dining with General Ward, I returned to Cambridge; in the 
evening visited and conversed with General Putnam. Ward appears to be a 
calm, cool, tlioughtful man ; Putnam, a rough, fiery genius. 

"Oct. 21st. — Detained at Cambridge all day by the rain. Met General 
Sullivan, who told me he was ordered to Portsmouth on the report of the 
destruction of Falmouth. Dined, by invitation, with Mr. MiiBin, Quarter- 
master-General. The company present were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch and 
Colonel Harrison (a committee from the Congress), General Lee, etc. General 
Lee is a perfect original, a good scholar, and an odd genius, full of fire and 
j)assion, and but little good manners ; a great sloven, wretchedly profane, and 
a great admirer of dogs, of which he had two at dinner with him, etc. Gen- 
eral Washington was to have been at this dinner, but the weather prevented. 
He is said to be a very amiable gentleman, cool, sensible and jjlacid, and a 
resolute soldier. 

" Oct. 22d. — Preached all day in the meeting-house. After meeting I was 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 153 

again told by the chaplain that it was disagreeable to the generals to isray 
for the king. I answered that the same authority which appointed the 
generals had ordered the king to be prayed for at the late Continental Fast ; 
and, till that was revoked, I should think it my duty to do it. Dr. Appleton 
[the minister of the church in Cambridge] prayed in the afternoon, and 
mentioned the king with much affection. It is too assuming in the generals 
to find fault with it. 

"Oct. 23d. — Mr. Miflin assiu'ed me there was no design to make an 
assault upon Boston very soon, and that it would not be done unless it was 
found that nothing else could be done. Flat-bottomed boats are preparing 
which will carry sixty or seventy men at once. Barracks are also building 
for the army's winter quarters. The army is healthy, and well supplied. I 
visited the works at Prospect Hill. The weather being hazy I had not so 
good a view as I should wish ; but I could see the enemy's lines and buildings 
at Bunker Hill, and the desolation at Charlestown. Visited also the works 
at Ploughed Hill and Winter Ilill, and set out on my return, etc. 

" Oct. 2ith. — Got home [to Dover] and found the town full of Portsmouth 
people, who have been moving with their effects, ever since the destruction 
of Falmouth, apprehending the same fate." 



A CHAKACTERISTIC ORDER IN THE CAMP BY WASHINGTON. 

The history and traditions of colonial and provincial life in Boston give 
us many illustrations of the zeal and animosity of the people exhibited 
against everything peculiarly identified with the claims and observances 
of the Roman Catholic Church. The anniversary associated with the 
famous Gunpowder Plot was an occasion of manifestation, parade and 
satirical shows in Boston which, by frequent recurrence, had made the 
daj- one of almost obligatory recognition. Important issues were now 
suspended upon the hopes and plans connected with movements designed 
to bring Canada into S3'mpathy with the revolting colonies. The 
British Ministrj-, b}' the famous Quebec Bill, had adroitlj' schemed to 
secure the allegiance of Eoman Catholic Canada, and it was not for us 
to alienate it by anj- insult to its faith. The following order was issued 
in the Provincial Camp for Nov. 5th : — 

" As the Commander-in-Chief has been apprised of a design formed for the 
observance of th.at ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy of the 
Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be officers and 
20 



154: CIIEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

soldiers in this army sn void of common sense as not to see the impropriety 
of such a step at this juncture ; at a time when we are soliciting, and have 
really obtained, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we 
ought to consider as brethren embarked in the same cause, the defence of the 
general liberty of America. At such a juncture and in such circumstances to 
be insulting their religion is so monstrous as not to be suffered or excused; 
indeed, instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address 
public thanks to these our brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for 
every late happy success over the common enemy in Canada." 



WINTER IN THE CAMP. 

The unwearied forethought and oversight of the Commander, setting 
before him all the details and conditions of his arduous task, were 
engaged in about equal measurements in trying to avert the necessity of 
keeping his forces inactive througii the winter, and in preparing for that 
season if compelled to remain on (he ground. The Provincial and the 
Continental Congresses gave him the help of their most earnest wishes 
and intents, though not alwa3's resulting in prompt eflaciency. 

He had reason to believe that even if the enemj- made no offensive 
demonstrations, beyond an occasional cannonade, through the Winter, 
strong reinforcements would join them in the spring, and therefore he 
decided that the sooner he could strike a strong blow the better. Be- 
sides, the close of the year would terminate the period of enlistment of 
the larger portion of the men whom, by incessant and rigid disci])line, 
he had been preparing for soldierly work, and turn in upon the camp, 
when it was most weakened, a body of raw recruits. The militia of the 
neighboring towns, summoned for a few days to meet special emergen- 
cies, was his only resource. In councils with his officers he urged his 
own views as to the necessity of an assault on the enemy before rein- 
forcements should arrive, and he freely avowed his assurance that, 
though any such enterprise would be extremely hazardous, yet, if his 
men would face the risk courageously', it had a fair chance of success. 
The autumn and early part of the winter were comparatively mild, and 
his hopes of seeing the bay tightl}' locked in ice — that the temptation 
to use it as a bridge to Boston might induce his officers to approve his 
plan — were disappointed. But' the uncertainty of his schemes in this 



CHROXrCLE OF THE SIEGE. 155 

direction could not ofTset the certainty that he must be prepared to keep 
his men on the ground through a New England winter, in whatever shape 
it might come. The men were of a sort and training and habit of life 
that disposed and fitted them to do the best possible for themselves in 
this matter. They were content with plain fare, and there was no lack 
of it. They showed their ingenuity in the construction of huts and 
shanties of every conceivable pattern. After experiencing some dif- 
ficultj- in providing a sufficient quantity of firewood tlie Provincial 
Congress made a levj- on the towns to a considerable distance from the 
camp, and it was furnished in abundance. The time-honored Thanks- 
giving festival was heartilj' enjo3-ed on November 23d. Orders had 
been issued to Gen. Sullivan, on the seventh of the month, to go to the 
protection of Portsmouth against the fate which had been visited upon 
Falmouth. On Nov. 9th, about four hundred of the enemy, in boats 
from Boston, made a landing at high water on Lechmere's Point, which 
was thus made an island, to plunder the stock there. Thej^ were pro- 
tected by a frigate, and by floating batteries. The alarm drew a detach- 
ment of the provincials, who could reach the scene onlj' bj' fording, and 
the result was a skirmish with a loss of two men on each side. The 
enemy carried off some cows. The Point was, as stated above, strongly 
fortified bj' the Provincials on the next month. 

On the opening of the new j-ear Wasiiingtou received the desired 
allowance of the Continental Congress to destroy Boston, if he found it 
advisable to do so, and President Hancock, in transmitting the message, 
endorsed it witli his full approbation, though he would have been, per- 
haps, the largest sufferer. The raonthlj' expenses of Washington's 
armj- were estimated b3- him, at the end of the j'ear, at $275,000. 

The union flag had been flung to the breeze with hearty cheering, on 
the new j-ear. Admiral Schuldam, who had just come into the harbor 
to displace Graves, brought with him an edition of the king's last speech 
in opening Parliament, full of the spirit of defiance and resolution to 
crush a "rebellious war, manifestl}' carried on for the purpose of estab- 
lisliing an independent empire." The reading of it in the camp was 
received with shouts and jeers. A bold stroke was made on the even- 
ing of Jan. 8th, by a part}' under Major Knowlton, to burn some houses 
then left on Charlestown Neck. It was, in a degree, successful, and 
caused a panic in Boston. 



156 CHKOKICLE or THE SIEGE. 



TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 

As iu all cases of alienation, strife and resistance on the part of anj' 
consideralile portion of subjects or citizens in their relations -vrith an 
established government, when what begins as sedition and rebellion 
waits the issue of events to decide whether it shall be crushed, or result 
in successful and accomplished revolution ; so in the struggle which is 
here rehearsed, one of the most critical questions opened in its earliest 
stage was the treatment and disposition to be made of those persons 
who became obnoxious to, or were first seized in actual armed hostilitj' 
to authoritj'. There was no unusual course adopted, no peculiar severitj' 
exercised by the British commander here in treating the rebels who first 
fell into his hands as such, unless we recognize as of that character the 
arrogance and supercilious disdain, the assumption, contempt and con- 
ceit of an easj- trium])h over a despicable eneni}-, which marked the 
whole oflBcial conduct of the roj'alists in their dealings with the pro- 
vincials. Of course, the military titles borne by the rebel oflBcers could 
not be, even in courtesj', allowed in intercourse with them, and it was 
assumed that no distinction would be made between them and the 
soldiers. As in all such eases, too, consideration, tolerance, and all the 
measures that graduallj- recognized the pending of an issue to which 
there was conceivablj- more than one result, were won by the rebels, and 
yielded on the royal side, only as the former proved that they were in 
earnest, and were not to be trifled with. The security of the revolting 
party in every such case is to possess themselves, as soon as possible, 
of the means and materials for retaliation. It came to be a matter of 
regi'et with Gage, and his lieutenants, that the most able and obnoxious 
leaders of the rebels had not been seized according to the purposes of 
the Biinistry, and sent to England for trial as traitors. Thej- would 
probablj' even then have escaped with their lives, and merel}- been held 
as pledges of the orderlj- conduct of their fellow-subjects, as when 
Henry Laurens, bearing despatches from the rebel Congress to Holland, 
was intercejited on the high seas, and confined in the Tower of London. 
B}' Gage's proclamation of June 12th, which it now appears was written 
for him bj- the pen of Burgoyne, Hancock and Samuel Adams were 
exempted from the pardon otfered to all who would then avail them- 



CHEONTCLE -OF THE SIEGE. 157 

selves of it bj- submitting to the royal governor. Not to be outdone in 
the matter of gi-ace, though their list of the proscribed was a longer one, 
the Provincial Congress, on June 16th, bj' proclamation, offered a full 
and free pardon to soldiers, tories, and all sorts "of public offenders 
against the rights and liberties of this country, excepting only from the 
benefit of such pardon," the General, the Admiral, all the Mandamus 
Counsellors who had not resigned, and all not belonging to the royal 
armj' or nav}-, who had aided in the recent "robberies and murders." 
The Continental Congress had given attention to the matter of retalia- 
tion in the seizure of anj- of the patriot party, and the Committee of 
Safety had advised the Provincial Congress, on .July 6th, " to recom- 
mend to the grand American Congress that everj- crown officer within 
the united colonies be immediatelj' seized and held in safe custod}- until 
our friends, who have been seized bj' Gen. Gage, are set at libertj-, and 
fully recompensed for their loss and imprisonment." 

These "friends seized by Gage" were some prominent offenders 
in Boston, whom he had committed to the jail. James Lovell and 
John Leach were here confined, with rough treatment, sixtj'-five days 
each, on the charge of being spies ; Peter Edes and William Starr, 
sevent3"-five days each, for concealing fire-arms, and John Gill, as a 
printer of seditious matter. Besides tliese were the prisoners, about a 
score, taken at Buuker Hill. It was alleged that the wounded among 
these were neglected or brutallj- treated. In a confidential letter of 
Burgoyne to Lord Rochfort, before quoted, he wrote, " Mj- advice to 
General Gage has been to treat the prisoners taken in the late action, 
most of whom are wounded, with all possible kindness, and to dismiss 
them without terms. ' You have been deluded ; return to your homes in 
peace ; it is your dut}' to God and your countr}- to undeceive your 
neighbors.' I have had opportunities to sound the minds of these 
people. Most of them are men of good understanding, but of much 
prejudice, and still more credulity ; the}- are yet ignorant of their fate, 
and some of thein expect, when they recover, to be hanged." It was 
indeed to that fate, as culprits and rioters, that Gen. Gage tried to 
attract the fears of such as fell into his hands. Washington, on Aug. 
11, addressed a letter to the General, remonstrating against his thus 
treating prisoners of war as felons, and threatening full retaliation to 



158 CHRONICLE or, THE SIEGE. 

obnoxious persons in his hands who had till then been forbearingl}- dealt 
bj'. In this letter Gage is described as acting under " ministers." 
Gage again used the pen of Burgojne for a replj-, addressed to " George 
Washington, Esq." Burgo^'ue gives us the letter as he wrote it, and it 
appears that Gage, in copying it, added to it the following sentence : 
" Till I read jour insinuations in regard to ministers, I conceived tliat I 
had acted under the king," etc. True to his threat, Washington gave 
orders that some obnoxious persons and prisoners in his hands should 
be confined in common jails ; but for some reason the severit}- was 
relaxed. He had occasion to write again to Gage on the same subject, 
Aug. 20th, and also on Dec. 18th to Gen. Howe, on the brutal treatment 
of Ethan Allen. This officer was put in irons, carried to England, then 
shifted between New York and Halifax, at which last place Mr. Lovell 
was carried ; and their treatment was the subject of much correspond- 
ence. But cartels and exchanges soon disposed of the whole matter. 



BURGOYNE ON THE SITUATION IN BOSTON. 

Another confidential letter from Gen. Burgoyne to Lord Rochfort, 
written in the summer of 1775, and which has been first made public 
this year, contains some verj' interesting disclosures. The expedition 
to which the General refers, as suggested in his previous letter, was an 
element of a scheme devised by him in answer to a supposed question, 
whether nothing could be done in the campaign of that year? His 
scheme was, that the rojal forces should seize and occupy Dorchester 
Heights, and that, leaving for the retention and defence of the three 
peninsulas, Charlestown, Boston and Dorchester, one thousand men for 
each, the remainder of the army — possibly two thousand — should be 
embarked to cruise along the coast, threatening the sea-board, dividing 
the provincials, using efforts of policj' and strategy to thwart the 
plans of the rebels and to sow alienation between the provinces. "I 
begin now to despair of the expedition of which I expressed promising 
hopes in my last. Enterprise is not ours. Inertness, or what is equal 
to it, attention to small objects, counteracts or procrastinates undertak- 
ings when no visible objection lies to tliem. But I take with great pleas- 
ure this opportunitj- to do justice to Mr. Gage ; and the Admiral must 



CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 159 

take to himself, and account for, a great share of our inactivity, our 
disgrace and our distress. 

" I will not undertake a task so useless at present, and so repugnant to 
mj- disposition as to particularize instances of these misfortunes, but the 
glaring facts are not to be concealed : that many vessels' have been taken, 
officers killed, men made prisoners ; that large numbers of swift boats, 
called whale-boals, have been supplied to the enemj' at well-known 
towns on the coast, in which boats they have insulted and plundered 
islands immediately under the protection of our ships, and at noonday 
landed in force and set fire to the light-house, almost under the guns of 
two or three men-of-war. I am not seaman enough to saj'that a vigilant 
and daring enemj', excellent boatmen, and knowing perfectly how to 
time winds, tides and currents, might not possibly effect these exploits 
in spite of anj- diligence on the other side ; but I know not where an 
excuse will be found for not enforcing instant restitution and rejiaration 
where boats have been furnished, privateers fitted out, prizes carried in, 
or provisions refused. And this omission is the more extraordinarj-, 
because, before the proclamation of martial law, the Admiral breathed 
nothing but impatience and flame ; and since that I know General Gage 
has urged him in vain to put his former schemes into execution. 

"It would be invidious to proceed. I have said enough, when com- 
pared with the observations I had the honor to transmit by the Cerberus, 
to prevent your lordship forming any verj^ sanguine expectations of this 
campaign. I am afraid it will require a good deal more activit}^ than we 
have jet shown, to prevent famine in the town, if not in the armj-, when 
winter approaches. 

" General Gage appears to be not disinclined to an idea of evacuating 
Boston, if he can make himself master of New York, and of taking up 
his winter-quarters there ; and there is much solid reasoning in favor of 
it. The post, in a military point of view, is much more important, and 
more proper to begin the operations of next campaign. In political 
consideration, 3'et more might be said for it, and in regard to general 
suppl}- the neighborhood of Long Island, and other adjacent islands, 
would afford some assistance that we want here. But on the other hand, 
to quit hold entirelj' of Massachusetts, at least before solid footing was 
obtained elsewhere, requires very mature reflection ; I would not be 



160 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE, 

understood to give m}- opiniou. The execution of the measure also 
would demand great foresight, secrecy, and other management. The 
inhabitants, friends of Government, must not be left behind.. They 
would require a vast quantity of shipping. The merchandise in the 
town, great part of which belongs to absentees, and ought to be con- 
fiscated, amounts, I am told, to the value of three hundred thousand 
pounds. That deposit ought surely to be detained ; to preserve it 
to the proprietors, if innocent ; to the public, where these should 
be guiltj' ; and from the use of the enemy- in both cases. I think 
it possible General Gage may nat have mentioned this circumstance 
to Government ; and I submit it to j'our lordship as one of great 
importance, and upon which I hope orders will be sent from home ; 
for I foresee a man of the General's scrupulous integrity (a part 
of his character that entitles him to the greatest honor) may be 
induced rather to relinquish or burn warehouses upon an exigency, than 
subject his reputation to the breath of slander by laying his finger upon 
private propertj'." ..." But whether the scheme of leaving Boston takes 
place in the whole, in part, or not at all, be assured, mj- lord, the army 
will be in danger of perishing with hunger and cold the ensuing winter, 
if the proper departments here do not fully represent, and the depart- 
ments at home fullj' believe, the impossibility of anj- solid supplj' of any 
article whatsoever except from Britain or Ireland. At present the sick 
and wounded are without broth for want of fresh provisions, and the 
poor ensign cannot draw for his paj- at less than fifteen per cent, dis- 
count." 

The very interesting matter from the pen of Gen. Burgoyne is drawn 
from a volume bearing the following title : " Political and Military 
Episodes in the latter half of the 18th Century'. Derived ft'om the Life 
and Correspondence of the Eight Hon. John Burgoyne, General, States- 
man, Dramatist. Bj' Edward Barrington De Fonblanque. London : 
Macmillan & Co. 187G." 



DESTRUCTION OF "LIBERTY-TREE." 

One act of pure spitefulness on the part of the British soldiers, during 
their occupancy of Boston, tended to concentrate the patriotic attach- 



CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 161 

ment which the people had for ten j-ears felt for a conspicuous olyect 
associated with the spirit of Libert}-. This was the wanton destruction, 
with insulting demonsti'ations, of the famous Libert^'-Tree. 

That part of Wasiiington street, then called Orange street, on the 
corner of the present Essex street — then Auchmuty's lane — was known 
as Hanover square, opposite the corner of Frog lane, now Boylston 
street, the site of the Market building. On the square stood a substan- 
tial wooden house, with gables, and two large chimnej-s, in the yard of 
which was a loftj' and spreading elm-tree, one of a cluster near the 
square. This was Liberty-Tree. Its designation, and what we may 
call its inauguration, date from the night of Aug. 13, 17Co. A lively 
class of the citizens of Boston had taken the title of " Sons of Liberty," 
an appellation offered for their use b}' their friend Col. Barre, in his 
glorious speech on their side in the House of Comiilons. On the even- 
ing just named, an effigy of Andrew Oliver, Secretarj' of the Province, 
and who was to be the distributor of the odious stamps, was suspended 
from a branch of the tree, accompanied by a figure of the devil peeping 
out of a boot, and holding the Stamp Act in his hand, with other 
satirical emblems, — a ver}' hard pun upon his Majesty's hated Scotch ad- 
viser, the Earl of Bute. On the next morning, as a great crowd collected 
around, some of the neighbors attempted to remove the decorations, but 
were warned to desist. The sheriff was ordered bj' the Lieut. -Governor, 
as Chief Justice, to take them down ; but, on viewing the scene, and its 
conditions, he pronounced the attempt dangerous. 

It would appear that this ingenious device for expressing contempt 
and hostilitj' to the Earl of Bute was not original on this side of the 
water. A Boston paper of Aug. 20, 1763, contains the following: — 

" About two miles from Honiton there was suspended on an ajiple-tree, 
that grew over the road, a figure, as big as life, dressed in Scotch plaid, with 
something to resemble a ribbon over one shoulder, and, on a painted board, 
aflixed to the tree, were these lines : — 

" 'Behold the man who made the yoke, 
Which doth Old England's sons provoke ; 
And now he hangs upon a tree, 
An emblem of our liberty. 
21 



162 CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

" ' Now, Britons, all join heart and hand, 
His sly-schemed project to withstand. 
That all our sons, as well as we. 
May have our " Cider go Scot free." 

" ' Liberty, Property, and No Excise.' " 

The efBg3' was taken down on the night of the 14th, and borne by a 
mob to Oliver's residence on Fort Hill, where it was burnt, driving him 
and his familj- from his house, which they defaced, and stoning the 
Lieut. Governor and Sheritf who sought to disperse them. On the 
26th of the month the rioters did the same violent and destructive acts 
upon the dwellings of Mr. Story, of the Admiralty, of Mr. Hallowell, 
of the Customs, and of the Chief Justice, Lieut. Gov. Hutchinson. 

Other effigies were hung on the tree, Nov. 1, 1765, the day when the 
Stamp Act was to take effect, amid mournful and riotous demonstra- 
tions, muffled bells tolling, flags at half-mast, inflammatorj* handbills 
and wandering mobs. Tiie effigies were twice taken down and carried 
in procession, restored, hung on the gallows-tree on the Neck, and at 
night destroyed with cheers. 

Under the apprehension that Mr. Oliver would still attempt to dispose 
of the stamps, he was summoned, on Nov. 16, to appear at the tree on 
the next day, "to make a public resignation." He asked that the 
ceremony might transpire at the Town House. But, no. He must 
coire to the tree. There, with a company- of two thousand, including 
the selectmen, merchants and best citizens, he subscribed a declaration 
attested by Eichard Dana, Justice of the Peace. This precious paper is 
now in the possession of the venerable R. H. Dana, grandson of the 
Justice. Oliver also made a speech, expressing his " utter detestation 
of the Stamp Act." 

Henceforward the tree became emblematic, and, after a sort, sacred. 
'By a vote of the Sons of Liberty, on February 14, 1766, it was 
"trimmed after the best manner," bj* some carpenters, under the direc- 
tion of a skilful gentleman. 

On the 19th of May, in celebration of the Eepeal of the Stamp Act, 
the tree was the centre of merry-making and festivitj', with illuminations 
and fireworks, and bells ringing. The tree was hung with garlands 



CimOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 163 

and colors, and a pole rising in Ibe centre of it, hy its new signifi- 
cance, doubtless reconciled what remained in the town of the old Puritan 
traditional dislike of poles dressed in Maj- time. Governor Hancock 
welcomed the people to a pipe of Madeira on the Common, where, also 
at night, was raised a pyramid of two hundred and eightj' lamps. On 
the evening of the nest day- tliere was a festival of lanterns, borne by 
immense crowds of men and boys, with all sorts and devices of illumi- 
nations around the tree ; and, to add to the general joj-, a collection was 
taken up for funds for discharging all who were in prison for debt, b^' a 
general jail delivery, that thej-, too, might share in the glad merriment. 
The heart of Boston was warm, though its will was rebellious. En- 
gravings are extant of a four-sided obelisk, with its ornaments and 
inscriptions, which was set under Libertj'-Tree at Ibis time. Tiie sides 
. bore rude portraits of George III. and Queen Charlotte, of the Marquis 
of Rockingham, the Duke of York, Gen. Conway, Lord Townsheud, 
Col. Barre, Wm. Pitt, Lord Dartmouth, Charles Townshend, Lord 
George Sackville, John Wiikes, Alderman Beckford, Lord Camden, etc., 
with an extraordinar3- varietj- of devices and emblematic conceits, 
piteous, boastful, sarcastic and devout, with ten lines of patriotic 
rhymes, defiant or mournful, on each side. Paul Revere contributed his 
genius to this remarkable piece of symbolism. When, on September 11, 
the news arrived of a change of ministry, a copper plate oi feet bj' 2^ 
was stronglj- nailed to the tree, inscribed, "The Tree of Liberty, Aug. 
14, 1765." The fame which the tree had acquired in England is shown 
by the curious fact that about the time of the catastrophe to be presently 
related, there died, at Backw.\y, near Cambridge, England, a gentleman 
named PliilipBilles, Esq., who left to two gentlemen, not relatives, his con- 
siderable fortune, on condition that the}' would faithfully execute his will 
bj' bmying liis bodj' under the shadow of Liberty-Tree in Boston, New 
England. This statement appears in the " Boston Evening Gazette," 
Aug. 22, 1774, copied from an English publication of June 3. The tree 
must be considered as having put forth and cast its leaves through suc- 
cessive seasons in sympath}' with the patriots who had attached to it 
their love and veneration. It was because of what it thus symbolized to 
them that it was hateful to the British soldiers, who doomed it to 
destruction. On August 4th a party of them, led on by a tory lacquey, 



164 CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

Job Williams, cut it down and burned it. A soldier who was lopping 
off one of its branches fell with it and was instantly killed. 

Lafayette said, in a speech which he made during his visit to Boston, 
in 1824, " The world should never forget the spot where once stood 
Libert3"-Tree, so famous in your annals." 

THE BESIEGED IN BOSTON. 

All accounts agree in representing the condition of the army and the 
people in the town, during the summer months, as involving general 
distress, with discontent and apprehension. The miuistrj' in England 
were perplexed as to whether thej' should give positive instructions to 
their General, or leave him to his own judgment ; and he was evidently 
distracted in that judgment, unable to leave Boston, and unwilling to . 
remain in it. Happily for him he was to be relieved of further responsi- 
bilit}-, as despatches received in September recalled him, nominally to 
give information and advice. When he left he expected to return here. 
Before his departure he issued several proclamations. 

The following has interest * : — 



"A COMMISSION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE HON. THOMAS 
GAGE, CAPT. GENERAL, GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF, &c., &c. 

To Ckean Brush, Esquire : — 

" Wliereas, there are large Quantities of Goods, Wares and Merchandize, 
Chattels and Effects, of considerable Value, left in the Town of Boston, by 
Persons who have thought proper to depart therefrom, which are lodged in 
Dwelling-houses, and in Shops, and Store-houses, adjoining to, or making 
Part of Dwelling-houses ; 

* In the cabinet of tlie M.iss. Historical Society is preserved in a large volume a 
series of Proclamations by the several Royal Governors, with broadsides, fly-leaves 
and miscellaneous printed papers, of much historic value. I am indebted to this 
source for the documents here copied. 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 165 

"And, Whereas, there is ^-eatKeason to apprehend, and thelnhahitants have 
expressed some Fears concerning the Safety of such Goods, especially as great 
Part of the Houses will necessarily be occupied by His Majesty's Troops, and 
the Followers of the Army, as Barracks during the Winter season : To quiet 
the Fears of the Inhabitants, and more especially to take all due care for the 
Preservation of such Goods, Wares, and Jlerchandize : I have thought fit, and 
do hereby authorize and ajipoint you, the said Crean Brush, to take and 
receive into your care, all such Goods, Chattels and Eflccts, as may be 
voluntarily delivered into your Charge by the Owners of such Goods, or the 
Person or Persons whose Care they may be left in, on your giving Receipts for 
the same : and you are to take all due Care thereof, and to deliver said Goods 
when called upon, to those to whom you shall have given Receipts for the 
same. 

" Given under my Hand and Seal, at Head-quarters in Boston, the first day 

of October, 1775, &c. 

"THOMAS GAGE. 
" Bj- His Excellency's Command, 

" SAMUEL KEMBLE, Secr'y." 

" 5^° By Order of the Commander-in-Chief, proper Apartments in Faueuil 
Hall are provided for the Reception of such Goods as may be delivered, where 
Attendance will be given from Ten o'Clock every morning 'till One." 

The property of the citizens which, according to this order, was stored 
in Faneuil Hall, was removed afterwards, that the building might be 
used by the British officers, for theatrical performances. It was con- 
sequently for the most part scattered and lost. 

CREAN BRUSH. 

We are naturally concerned to ask who was the man bearing such an 
extraordinarj- name, to whom the Royal General committed such a 
responsible service, and how he discharged it. The people driven from 
their homes had left all this valuable property- at risk ; and when on the 
approach of winter the General found it necessary to house his army, he 
wished to empty stores and dwellings. 

Crean Brush was a man of ill-repute, and of a stormj* career, and he 
came to an unhappy end. He may be traced in Dr. O'Callaghan's Doc- 
umentary History of New York. He was born in Dublin, bred to the 



166 CHEONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

law, and admitted to practice in New Yorlc, where he held office under the 
Provincial Secretarj\ He appears as a violent actor in the controversies 
and hostilities between the authorities of New York and the settlers in 
the so-called " Hampshire Grants," now Vermont, who held titles from 
the Governor of New Hampshire, disputed b^' New York. In those 
controversies, the famous Ethan Allen appears conspicuously as one of 
the settlers. His wife "was a step-daughter of Crean Brush. Brush 
had made his wa^' to Boston in the autumn of 1775, and had so ingra- 
tiated himself with the General, as to have the above trust assigned to 
him. Early in the next j'ear, he obtained from Gen. Howe authoritj' to 
raise in the town a body of three hundred loj'al volunteers, who were 
to serve, like the corps of Royal Fencible Americans already organized 
in the town, on certain terms. Just previous to the Evacuation, as we 
shall see, Howe gave him another commission, under which be set an 
example followed b}' too many others, hardlj' worse, however, than 
himself, of breaking open and plundering houses and stores of furniture 
and goods. He packed his own spoils, to the value, it was said, of a 
hundred thousand dollars, on board the brigantine Elizabeth. While 
the heavily laden vessel was straggling off, to join the departing fleet, 
she was captured, with the robbers in her, by the gallant Manly, and 
brought back to Boston, giving occasion for a sharp quarrel between the 
owners of the goods in her and her captors. Brush was put in jail, 
heavily ironed, in Boston, and kept under rigid restrictions, marked by 
merited indignities, though it would seem that he found means for gross 
intemperance. The next jeav he was joined bj' his wife, who, after he 
had been in prison more than nineteen months, contrived, bj' disguising 
him in her own clothing, to enable him, on the night of November 5, 
1777, to get out of jail, and, by preparations she had made for him, to 
effect his escape to New York. He fii-st went to Vermont, to look after 
his fifty thousand acres of land. He fell into further trouble, — his estate 
was mainly confiscated. Under grief and remorse, he blew out his 
brains with a pistol, in May, 1778. 

PRINTING IN BOSTON. 

Witli their proclamations and notifications of various kinds, the 
British Generals furnished much matter for the press in Boston. Ben- 



CHRO>riCLE OF THE SIEGE. 167 

jamin Edes, the sturdy Whig printer of the " Boston Gazette," had, with 
marvellous prowess, on the first shutting up of Boston, contrived to 
evade the sentinels, and not onl_y to get out of the town himself, but to 
carry with him an old press, and some founts of type. He continued his 
paper at Watertown. Margaret, the w-idow of Eichard Draper, con- 
tinued his paper, the "Boston News Letter," in her own name, and 
in the British interest, during the Siege, and her press was well 
patronized. 

PROCLAMATIONS BY GEN. G.AGE. 

In another of these papers. Gen. Gage offers a reward of ten guineas 
for the apprehension of the person who had stolen tlie Province Seal. 

The following call for ascertaining the number of people in the town 
maj' have been prompted bj' a desire to give information in England : — 



"BY THE GOVERNOR. A PROCLAMATION. 

" The Circumstances of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, being such 
as makes it necessary I should know the Number of Persons that still remain 
therein : I have thought fit to issue this proclamation, requiring a Return of 
the Names of every Inhabitant in said Town (the Army and Navy excepted) 
and their Places of Abode, unto the Town Major, at his Office in Long Lane, 
on or before Thursday next, the Fifth day of this Instant, distinguishing the 
Males from the Females with their respective Ages. 

' ' And, I do hereby further require of every Person that may hereafter come 
into the Town oi Boston, immediately after their Arrival, to enter their Names 
at the ofSce aforesaid. 

" Given at Boston the Second Daj- of October, 1775, &c., &c. 

"THOMAS GAGE. 
" By His Excellency's Command, 

"THOMAS FLUCItER, Becr'y. 

" GOD Save the KING." 

The number of inhabitants other than soldiers was estimated at C,o73, 
and of the soldiers, with their women and children, at 13,600. The 



168 CHROI^ICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

people were required to be in their liouses at nine o'clocls, anil tlie 
streets, which were darlc and dangerous, were patrolled. A vote had 
been passed at a town-meeting in 1773, to purchase, in London, three 
hundred street lamps. But they were on board one of the tea-ships 
that went ashore on Cape Cod, in December of that j-ear. 



BURGOYNE'S THEATRICALS IN BOSTON. 

General Burgojne had nearly two months longer stay in the town 
after Gage had gone, to mature freely his own opinions in a closer in- 
timacj' with his colleague. Gen. Howe, then in the chief command, 
while Clinton went over to Charlestown. 

In the irksome confinement and routine of garrison life, wherever 
officers can find female associates and friends, there is alwaj-s one 
resource, however forced and tame it ma}' be, which will be sought as a 
relief from despondencj^ and inanitj'. Such of the sex in Boston as 
indulged torj' proclivities, and such were not lacking, with attractions 
of grace and culture, responded to the efl'orts of the officers to provide 
assemblies and dances. Tliese were held in Concert Hall, which has so 
recently disappeared from the southed}' corner of Court and Hanover 
streets. There were other women in Boston, who would take no part in 
such gayeties. In a confidential letter which Burgoyne wrote, Aug. 
20th, to Attorney-General Thurlow, he refers with some complacency to 
the literary labors which had occupied his constrained leisure, as he had 
been " called upon to draw a pen instead of a sword." " If the procla- 
mation for the exercise of martial law, the correspondence with Lee, or 
the answer to Washington upon the subject of rebel prisoners, fall into 
your hands, I request you to consider those productions with all the 
allowances your candor can suggest." But the writer is silent as to his 
kindly intended efforts, as a man of pleasing social qualities, to con- 
tribute to the amusement of the melancholy circle in Boston. A series 
of theatrical exhibitions was given under his direction, in Faneuil Hall, 
in the autumn. On the adjoining page is a fac-simile of the announce- 
ment of the tragedy of " Zara," which was acted several times. Bur- 
goyne wrote the Prologue and the Epilogue, the former of which was 
spoken by Lord Rawdon, and the latter by a young lady, ten years old. 



On SATURDAY next 

Will be PERFORM'D 

By a Society of L A D I E S and GENTLEMEN, 

At FANEUIL-H ALL, 

The TRAGEDY of 
Z A R A : 

The Expences of the Houfe being paid, the 

Overplus will be apply'd to the Benefit of the 

Widows and Children of the Soldiers. 

No Money will be taken at the Door, but Tickets will be deli- 
vered To-day and To-morrow, between the Hours of Eight 
and Two, at Dodlor Morris's in School-ftreet. 

PIT One Dollar, GALLERY 
Quarter of a Dollar. 

The Doors to be open at FIVE, and begin 
precifely at S I X o'clock. 

•.•TICKETS for Friday will be taken. 

Vivant Rex et Regina. 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 169 

In these compositions the writer good-humoredly ridicules the prudery 
and Puritan severitj- of the Bostonians, but urges the English troops to 

" Unite the wjirrior's with the patriot'3 care, 
And whilst yoti burn to conquer, wish to spare." 

While the young lady's concluding moral points to the naughtiness of 
rebellion, and lays it down that, — 

" Duty in female breasts should give the law, 
And make e'en love obedient to Papa." 

A reference to this performance is found in a letter addressed by- 
Thomas Stanley — second son of Lord Derby — to Hug! i Elliot, after 
Stanley's return to Boston, where he had served on Bui-goyne's staff. 
[Memoir of the Right Hon. Hugh Elliot, by the Countess of Minto, 
p. 92.] 

"We acted the tragedy of Zara two nights before I left Boston, for the 
benefit of the widows and children. The prologue was spoken by Lord 
Rawdon, a very fine fellow and good soldier. I wish you knew him. We 
took above £100 at the door. I hear a great many people blams us for 
acting, and think we might have found something better to do ; but General 
Howe follows the example of the King of Prussia, who, when Prince Ferdi- 
nand wrote him a long letter, mentioning all the difficulties and distresses of 
the army, sent back the following concise answer : ' De la gaiete, encore de la 
gaiete, et toujours de la gaiete.' The female parts were filled by young 
ladies, though some of the Boston ladies were so prudish as to say this was 
improper." 

Later, in the enjoyment of these theatricals, the spectators and the 
actors experienced a somewhat rude shock. On the evening of Jan. 
8th, 177G, a farce, called " Tlie Blockade of Boston," was upon the 
stage in Faneuil Hall. One of the actors, representing a travesty of 
Gen. Washington, had come in in grotesque array, with wig and rusty 
sword, with a squire, in similar array, carrying a rusty gun. At this 
moment a sergeant rushed in shouting, "The Yankees are attacking 
our works on Bunker's Hill." For a moment this was taken to be a 
part of the play. But, on the next, Gen. Howe, who was present, gave 
the order, "Officers, to your alarm posts!" There was an instant 



170 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

crowding and rush to the door, with a fainting and slirieking of tlie 
■women. The alarm was caused by the enterprise of Major Knowlton, 
near Charlestown Neck, where he had burned some houses used by 
the British, causing a bright conflagration, had killed one man, and 
brought oti' five prisoners. 

GENERAL HOWE IN COMMAND IN BOSTON. 

The new commander of the besieged town showed a desire to do 
anj'thing within his power and resources to put his army into the best 
condition possible, and to be prepared for a campaign, or any emer- 
gency. But his embarrassments and disabilities proved to be the same 
as Gage had encountered. During the summer and autumn there was 
prevailing sickness in the town ; the hospitals and manj^ private dwell- 
ings were filled with sufferers, poorly ministered to ; and the inhabitants 
were in a constant state of distress and alarm. The following procla- 
mations, issued by the General, exhibit the directions in which his zeal 
manifested itself. In a third publication, of the same dale, he forbade 
any one, who had permission to leave the town, to take away with him 
more than five pounds sterling. 



"A PROCLAMATION. By His Excolleney, the Hon. Wm. Howe, Major 
General, and Commander-in-Chief, &c. 

" Whe7-eas, it is become the indisjionsable Duty of every loyal and faithful 
Citizen, to contribute all in liis Power for the Preserv.ation of Order and good 
Government within the Town of Boston : 

" I do hereby recommend, that the Inliabitants do immediately associate 
themselves, to be formed into Companies under proper OlBcers, selected by 
me, from among the Associators, to be solely employed within the Precincts 
of the Town, and for the Purposes above mentioned. 

"That this Association be opened in the Council Chamber, under the 
Direction of the Honorable Peter Oliver, Foster Hutchinson, and William 
Brown, Esquires : on Monday the; thirtieth Day of October, 1775, and 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 171 

continui'd for four Days following, that no One may pleail Ignoi-ance of the 
same. 

" Out of the Number of Persons voluntarily entering into this Association, 
all such as are able to discharge the Duty required of them, shall be properly 
Armed, and an Allowance of Fuel and Provisions be made to those requiring 
the same, equal to what is issued to His Majesty's Troops within tlie 
Garrison. 

" Given at Head Quarters in Boston, this Twenty-eighth Day of October, 

1775. 

"W. HOAVE. 
" Bv His Excellencv"s Command, 

"ROBERT MACKENZIE." 



"A PROCLAMATION, by His Excellency The Honorable Wiixiam Howe, 
Major General and Commander in Chief of all His Majesty's Forces 
within the Colonies laying on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to 
West Florida inclusive, &c., &c., &c. 

" Whereas, several of the Inhabitants of this Town have lately absconded 
to join, it is apprehended. His Majest}''s Enemies, assembled in open 
Rebellion : 

" I Do, by Virtue of the Power and Authority in me vested by His Majesty, 
forbid any Person or Persons whatever, not belonging to the Navy, to pass 
from hence by Water or otherwise from the Date hereof, without my Order or 
Permission given in Writing. 

" Any Person or Persons detected in the Attempt, or who may be retaken, 
upon sufficient Proof thereof, shall be liable to Military Execution ; and those 
who escape shall be treated as Traitors, by Seizure of their Goods and 
Effects. 

"All Masters of Transports or other Vessels sailing from hence, unless 
under the immediate Order of Samuel Graves, Esq., Vice Admiral of the 
White, &e., &p., &o., or Officer commanding His Majesty's Ships of War on 
this Service for the Time being, are hereby strictly forbidden to receive any 
Person or Persons on Board without my Order or Permission in Writing. 
Any Master or others detected in Disobeying this Proclamation shall be liable 
to such Fine and Imprisonment as may be adjudged. 

" Given at Head Quarters ia Boston, this Twenty-eighth Day of October, 
1775." 



172 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

At the end of November, while the small-pox was raging in the town, 
Howe sent out, to Point Shirlej- and Chelsea, hundreds of the destitute 
inhabitants, with nothing but a scanty allowance of furniture and clotii- 
ing. He had given orders for the destruction of one of the meeting- 
houses of the town, and a large number of houses and barns, for fuel; 
and, as advantage was taken of this order l)y the soldiers for private 
devastation, he issued a warning against such wanton mischief. The 
Provost was commissioned to go his rounds, attended by executioners, 
and at once to hang detected offenders. It was under the stress of such 
circumstances that the following was issued : — 



"A PROCLAMATION, by His Excellency the Hon. Wii. Howe, Major Gen'l 
and Commander in Chief, &c. 

" WiiEiiEAS, the present and approaching Distresses of many of the Inhab- 
itants in the Town of Boston, from the Scarcity and high Prices of Provisions, 
Fuel, and other necessary Articles of Life, can only be avoided by permitting 
them to go where they may hope to procure easier Means of Subsistence : 

" Notice is herebj^ given, that all those suffering under the above-mentioned 
Circumstances, who chuse to depart the Town, may give in their Names, 
Abode, Number and Names of those in Family, Eflccts, &c., that Passes may 
be made out, conformable to Regulations already established. 

" Given at Head Quarters in Boston, this sixth Day of November, 1775. 

"W. HOWE. 
" By His Excellency's Command, 

"ROBERT MACKENZIE." 

So the drear}- winter passed with the besieged forces. They felt in- 
creasingly all the humiliations of their condition, and were waiting for 
the spring, for reinforcements, and for decisive orders, to meet the con- 
tingencies of the future. The result of the bold and effective measures 
of the provincial arm}- in the occupation of the heights of Dorchester, 
as given in the preceding address, may be accompanied here by some 
incidental details. 



CHROKICLE OF THE SIEGE. 173 



THE CONTRACT FOR THE EVACUATION AND SAFETY OF BOSTON. 

The understandiDg ami the implied covenant between the belligerents, 
which saved Boston from being bombarded or burned, while securing 
its evacuation bj' the British forces, were at the time, well undei-Stood 
on this side of the water. The measures to effect the desired object were 
conducted by the selectmen of the town, at the instigation of the remnant 
of the patriotic inhabitants and owners and guardians of the propertj- in 
it. Their apprehensions of calamity attached equally to the probable 
course which might be adopted by either party ; the patriots might destroy 
the town for the sake of driving out the enemy, or the enemy might burn 
the town in revenge for being compelled to leave it. "Washington and 
the British commander could hold no direct official correspondence on 
the subject, for the latter, holding to his resolve not to recognize any 
title or rank that was not derived from the king, would not address 
Washington according to the terms which Congress had enjoined as the 
requisite condition for such official correspondence. A vain attempt 
■was afterwards made b}' a British officer to reconcile the American com- 
mander to being addressed " George Washington, &c., &c., &c.," on 
the plea 'that those et ceterm would include everythinci . Washington re- 
plied that they might also Include auything. 

Captain Irvine, with six other persons, luul escaped from Boston on 
the night of March 8th, and reported the active work in progress for 
embarking the British forces. A flag came out of Boston the same 
evening, bearing the following paper, without any address, though in- 
tended for Washington, and signed bj' four of the selectmen, dated, 
Boston, 8 March, 177.5 : — 

"As His Excellency General Howe is determined to leave the town with 
the troops under his command, a number of the respectable inhabitants, 
being very anxious for its preservation and safety, have applied to General 
Kobertson for this purpo-e, who, at their request, has communicated the 
same to His Excellency General Howe, who has assured him that he has no 
intention of destroying the town, unless the troops under his command ai"e 
molested during their embarkation, or at their departure, by the armed force 
without ; which declaration he gave General Robertson leave to communicate 
to the inhabitants. If such an opposition should take place, we have the 



174 CHRONICLE or THE SFEGE. 

greatest reason to expect the town will be exposed to entire destruction. 
Our fears are quieted with regard to General Howe's intentions. We beg we 
may have some assurance that so dreadful a calamity may not be brought on 
by any measures without. As a testimony of the truth of the above, we have 
signed our names to this paper, carried out by Messrs. Thomas and Jonathan 
Amory, and Peter Johonnot, who have at the earnest entreaties of the inhab- 
itants, through the Lieutenant-Governor, solicited a flag of truce for this 
purpose. 

" John Scollay, Thomas Marshall, 

Timothy Newell, Samuel Austin." 

This paper was taken to the Roxbury lines by IMajor Bassett, of the 
Tenth Regiment, and given to Colonel Learned, wlio carried it to liead- 
rjiiarters. On ]ii.s return he wrote the following reply to the bearers 
of it : — 

"Roxbury, 9 March, 1776. 
"Gentlemen, — Agreeably to a promise made to you at the lines yester- 
day, I waited upon His Excellency General AVashington, and presented to 
him the paper handed to me by you from the Selectmen of Boston. The 
answer I received from hiin was to this effect : That as it was an unauthenti- 
cated paper, without an address, and not obligatory upon General Howe, he 
would take no notice of it. I am, with esteem and respect, Gentlemen, 
" Your most obedient servant, 

"EBEXEZER LEARNED. 
" To Messrs. Amoky and John.vot." 

The answer of Washington was in conformity with the advice of such 
general officers as he could immediately summon, who agreed with hiin 
that, as the paper lacked the guarantj- of General Howe, he could not 
be held by it to any terms of obligation. None the less, however, was 
Washington willing lo act in conformity with the arrangement, though 
he watched the enemy most rigidly during the embarkation, ready to 
avenge any wanton mischief on their part. The last token of Howe's 
presence in the town is in the following : — 

"By His Excellency William Howe, Major General, &c., &c , &c. 

"As Linnen and Woolen Goods are Articles much wanted by the Rebels, 
and would aid and assist them in their Rebellion, the Commander-in-Chief 
expects that all good Subjects will use their utmost Endeavors to have all 



CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 175 

such articles conveyed from this Place. Anv who have not Opportunity to 
conve}' their Goods under their own Care, may deliver them on Board the 
Minerva, at Hubbard's Wharf, to Crean Brush, Esq., mark'd with their 
Names, who will give a Certificate of the Delivery, and will oblige himself 
to return them to the Owners, all unavoidable Accidents excepted. 

" If, after this Notice, any Person secretes or keeps in his Possession such 
Articles, he will be ti'eated as a Favourer of Rebel . 

"Boston, March 10th, 177G." 

Here again we have recognized the oflicial agency of Mr. Brush, 
whose career has been briefly sketched above. 

THE LEAVE-TAKIXG AND EMBAKKATIOX. 

The following extracts from British sources give us authentic in- 
formation concerning the last daj's of the occupanej' of Boston by the 
royal army. Almon's "Remembrancer" (Vol. III., pp. 106, 107) pub- 
lished a letter " from an officer of distinction at Boston to a person in 
Loudon," under dates from March 3d to 10th. 

"March 3(1. — For tliese last six weeks, or near two months, we have been 
better amused than could possibly be expected in our situation. We had a 
theatre, we had balls, and there is actually a subscription set on foot for a 
masquerade. England seems to have forgot us, and we have endeavored to 
forget ourselves ; but we were roused to a sense of our present situation last 
night, in a manner unpleasant enough. The rebels have been, for some time 
past, erecting a bomb batterj-, and last night began to play upon us. [From 
Lechmere's Point.] Two shots fell not far from me. One fell upon Colonel 
Monckton's house, and broke all the windows, but luckily did not burst till it 
had crossed the street. Many houses were damaged, but no lives lost. We 
expect some carcasses to-night, if the fear of destroying their own property 
does not prevent it. What makes this matter more provoking is, that their 
barracks are so scattered, and at such a distance, that we can't disturb them, 
although from a battery near the water side they can reach us easily. 

" March 4th. — If something is not speedily done his Britannic Majesty's 
American dominions will probably be confined within a very narrow compass. 
The rebel army is not brave, I believe, but it is agreed on all hands that their 
artillery oflicers are at least equal to our own. In the number of shells that 
thej' flung last night not above three failed. This morning we flung four, 
and three of them burst in the air. 



176 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

" March blh. — This is, I believe, likely to prove as important a day to the 
British empire as any in our annals. We underwent last night a very severe 
cannonade, which damaged a number of houses, and killed some men. 
This morning, at daybreak, we discovered two redoubts on the hills on Dor- 
chester Point, and two smaller works on their flanks. They were all raised 
during the night, with an expedition equal to that of the genii belonging to 
Aladdin's wonderful lamp. From these hills they commanded the whole 
town, so that we must drive them from their post, or desi-rt tlie place. The 
former is determined upon, and five regiments are already embarked. A 
body of light infantry, under the command of Major Musgrave, an excellent 
officer, and a body of grenadiers, are to embark to-night at seven. I think it 
is likely to be so for a general affair, tliat we shall take our share in it. 
Adieu, balls, masquerades, &c., for this may be looked upon as the opening 
of ihe campaign. 

" It is worth while to remarlv with wliat judgment tlie loaders of the rebels 
take advantage of the prejudices, and work upon the passions of the mob. 
This 6th of March is the anniversary of what tliey call the Bloody Massacre, 
when, in (I think) 17C9, the king's troops fired on the people in the streets of 
Boston. If ever they dare stand us, it will be to-day; but I hope to-morrow 
to be able to give you an account of their defeat. 

" March Qth. — A wind more violent than anytliing I ever heard prevented 
our last night's purposed expedition, and so saved the lives of thousands. 
To-day they have made themselves too strong to make a dislodgment possi- 
ble. We are under their fire whenever they choose to begin ; so that we are 
now evacuating the town with the utmost expedition, and are leaving behind 
us half our worldly goods. Adieu ! I hope to embark in a few hours. 

"March 7th. — When the transports came to be examined they were void 
of both provisions and forage. If any are got on board to-day it will be as 
much as can be done. Never were troops in so disgraceful a situation, and 
that not in' the least our own fault, or owing to any want of slcill or discretion 
in our commanders, but entirely owing to Great Britain being fast asleep. I 
pity General Howe from my soul. 

" March 9th. — Trampnrt, I have slept one night on board ; the troops are 
embarking as fast as possible. I mistook when I imagined the works already 
made could destroy the town ; but the rebels possess a hill so situated, that 
if they pleased to erect a battery it would entirely consume us. They as yet 
have not proceeded to make a work, nor do they attempt to molest us in our 
embarkation. It appears as if there were at least a tacit agreement between 
AVashington and General Howe. 

•'■March lOlh. — To-day the horse transports are ordered to pull down to 



CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 177 

Castle William, a fort about three miles from the town in our possession ; it 
commands the harbor, and the troops now here will embark the last. The 
retreat from the town is to be covered by a large body of grenadiers, and 
light infantry, and the 5th and the 10th Regiments. The Fowey, a man of war 
of twenty-eight guns, covers the retreat by water. A packet is to sail, I hear, 
as soon as the army is clear of the town ; so probably I shall not have it in 
my power to inform you whether we are attacked in our retreat or not. 

" Nantasket Road, March 17th. — Our retreat was made this morning 
between the hours of two and eight. Our troops did not receive the smallest 
molestation, though the rebels were all night at work on the near hill, and we 
kept a constant fire upon them, from a battery of four twenty-four pounders. 
They did not return a single shot. It was lucky for the inhabitants now left in 
Boston they did not. For I am informed everything was prepared to set the 
town in a blaze had they fired one cannon. The dragoons are under orders 
to sail to-mon'ow for Halifax, a cursed, cold, wintry place even yet. Noth- 
ing to eat, less to drink. Bad times, my dear friend. The displeasure I feel 
fi-om the very small share I have in our present insignificancy is so great that 
I don't know the thing so desperate I would not undertake in order to 
change our situation." 

From t Ik; "Remembrancer," III., 108. "A passenger from Boston 
gives the following account" : — 

"On tlie second of March the provincials began to bombard the 
town from a place called Phipps' Farm, and on the third they opened a 
24-pound battery on Dorchester Neck, which annoyed the army exceedingly. 
On the fifth. Gen. Howe embarked six regiments to attack this battery, but a 
strong easterly wind preventing the men-of-war ft-om covering or supporting 
them, it was thought advisable to desist. The next day he renewed the 
attempt, but found the work so strong that he returned without effecting any- 
thing. In the mean time, the provincials had thrown near a hundred bombs 
into the town, and fired with considerable execution from their battery. Gen. 
Howe, therefore, got some of the selectmen to go out to Gen. Washington to 
inform him that, if firing continued, he must set fire to the town to cover his 
reti'eat. Two of the selectmen returned, and having communed with Gcji. 
Howe, went back, and the firing immediately ceased. 

" Gen. Howe then began his embarkation. The refugee inhabitants went 

first, not being suflered to carry anj"thing but necessaries. The mortars and 

heavy artillery could not be embarked; these, therefore, they endeavored to 

burst, by charging them full with powder, and tiring it off. But this did 

23 



178 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

not answer their wishes. They attempted also to destroy all the small arms 
belonging to the town. While this work was going on, a deserter from the 
provincial camp informed Gen. Howe, on the tenth, that Gen. Washington 
was preparing for a general storm. Upon this intelligence, the General and 
all the troops immediately embarked, leaving the artillei-y, stoi'es, etc., 
damaged only, as the hurry and confusion would permit. 

" It now appeared, by the movements of the provincial army, that they were 
taking stations upon Hogg and Noddle's Islands, and preparing to attack 
Castle William. If they had succeeded in this, they would have had the com- 
mand of Boston harbor, and destroyed the fleet. Gt-n. Howe, therefore, dis- 
mantled and blew up Castle William, and then fell down with the whole fleet 
into Nantasket road, which is an open and exposed station. The transports 
were mostly small schooners, under the protection of three men-of-war. 
March is the most tempestuous month of the year upon the American coast, 
so that without a miracle this wretched fleet must be dispersed and lost. It 
is impossible that more events could concur to render their distress com- 
plete, and their ruin almost inevitable. The terms of agreement between the 
two Generals were secret; but it is supposed that nothing was to have been 
destroyed, and that this breach of it determined the iJrovincials to enter the 
town sooner than was intended." 

" Cambridge, March 27. — Among other commodities belonging to the late 
garrison at Boston, we have got their orderly-book, by which it appears that 
Gen. Howe had 7,575 eS'ective men, exclusive of the stafl", so that with 
the marines and sailors he might be considered as 10,000 strong." 

From an officer of a ship-of-war, Boston harbor, March 23 : — 

" The bay swarms with American privateers, but we hope to protect tlie 
transports, which are daily expected from the AVest Indies, and to send them 
safe to Halifax." 

"Extract of a letter from Boston. Hi.s Majesty's ship Chatham, 
March 24, 1776." (Almon,III., 107) : — 

" The retreat of the troops from this garrison cannot fail to be differently 
represented in England, for which reason I have found time, from our great 
hurry, to give you some account of it. In the first place, the General not 
receiving any letters or despatches from government since the middle of 
October, could not tail of making everybody very uneasy. It looked as if we 
were left destitute, to get out of a bad scrape as we liked best. Our pro- 
visions falling short, added to our discontents The fleet afforded us no 



CHKOXICLE or THE SIEGE. 179 

relief. Little indeed was in their power; their own ill equipment was enough 
to make them as dissatisfied as ourselves. The provincials, who knew exactly 
the state of our garrison, harassed us from their batteries, with an intention of 
making our people more dissatisfied in hopes of desertions. Finding no 
probability of supply, and dreading the consequences of further delay, it was 
thought prudent to retire to the ships, and to save what we could. Our not 
being burthened with provisions, permitted us to save some stores and ammu- 
nition, the light field-pieces, and such things as are most convenient of 
carriage. The rest. I am sorry to say, we were obliged to leave behind. 
Such of the guns as by dismantling we could throw into the sea, was done so ; 
the carriages were disabled, and every precaution taken that our circum- 
stances would permit, for our retreat was by agreement. The jjeople of the 
town who were friends to government, took care of nothing but their 
merchandise, and found means to employ the men belonging to the transports 
in embarking their goods, by which means several of the vessels were 
entirely filled with private property instead of the king's stores. By some 
unavoidable accident, the medicines, surgeons' chests, instruments and neces- 
saries were left in the hospital. The confusion, unavoidable on such a 
disaster, will make you conceive how much must be forgot where every man 
had a private concern. The necessary care and distress of the women, 
children, sick and wounded, required every assistance that could be given. 
It was not like breaking up a camp, where every man knows his duty ; it was 
like departing your country, with your wives, your servants, your household 
furniture, and all your incumbrances. The ofiicers, who felt the disgrace of 
their retreat, did their utmost to keep up appearances. Tlie men, who 
thought they were changing for the better, strove to take the advantage of the 
present times, and were kept from plunder and drink with difficulty. In bad 
plight we go to Halifii.x. What supply we are to expect there I do not know ; 
our expectations are not very sanguine. The neglect shown us bears hard on 
us all; the soldiers think themselves betrayed; the officers all blame 

the Admiralty, and your friend Lord S is universally execrated ; the 

sea-officers complained they were hurried out of England in a most shameful 
condition, not half manned, and ill-provided. Fleet and army complain of 
each other, and both of the people at home. If we fare as ill at Halil'ax as 
we have done here lately, I fear we shall have great desertion, as the opjjor- 
tunity will be more convenient." 



180 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 



BOSTON HARBOR REOPENED. 



The Renown, man-of-war, was stationed at Nantasket to guard the 
harbor and to warn ofT transports, and was a great annoj'ance in pre- 
venting wood and himber coasters and other vessels from snpphing 
Boston with necessaries. It was resolved that this troublesome object 
should be got rid of. On the morning of June 13th drafts from the 
troops in and near the town, a detachment from Col. Crafts' train of 
artillerj-, with some militia from the neighborhood, amounting in all to 
about six hundred, under command of Gen. Lincoln, went to Point 
Alderton, Petticks, and other neighboring islands. Thej- vigorously 
bombarded and cannonaded the enem}-, one of the shot piercing the 
Commodore's ship. The attack was so sudden and unlocked for that it 
caused the enemy great confusion. Without making anj- resistance the 
Eenown slipped or cut her cables, and put to sea after sending men in 
boats to destroy the light-house. She was followed by twelve sail of 
other British ships, eight of which were reported to be transports with 
Highland recruits. The Port of Boston was thus opened just two years 
after it was closed b}' parliamentarj- edict. As soon as this event 
occurred the first fruits of the prowess of the provincials were realized. 
A continental schooner chased into the harbor two transports, which, 
with the help of forts on the islands, were captured and brought to 
Boston. The transports contained two hundred and twenty Highland- 
ers, with their Colonel, Archibald Campbell, and Major Menzies. The 
Major was killed in the action, and was' buried with military honors 
from Trinity' Church. The Colonel, who attended as chief mourner, was 
sent as a prisoner to reside at Reading and Concord. 

REPORT OF THE EVACUATION IN ENGLAND. 

The announcement in England of the evacuation of Boston was 
received with amazement and consternation, and witli the sharpest 
censures on the management of the war, mingled with taunts and sar- 
casms. Boston had engaged the hopes and fears of the ministry, and 
the people of England. It had been described as the metropolis of 
America, and the head-quarters of rebellion. As such it had been 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 181 

chosen as the centre for the operation of all parliamentarj- eilicts, and 
of all military movements. More than a million sterling bad been 
spent to secure its hostile occupancj". Great Britain had been drained 
of men and food to hold it, and 60,000 tons of transports had been 
freighted to keep it. Now the "London Gazette," of May 3, makes 
the following placid annonncemont : — 

" General Howe having taken a resolution on the 7th of March to remove 
from Boston to Halifax, with the troops under his command, and such of the 
inhabitants, with their effects, as were desirous to continue under the pro- 
tection of his Majesty's forces, the embarkation was effected on the 17th of 
that month, with the greatest order and regularity, and without the least 
interruption from the rebels," &c. 

Of course the other side of the story did not fail of being told with 
some embellishments. It was said that Gen. Howe went to the select- 
men and informed them, — 

" That he saw Mr. Washington was determined to have the town, that the 
town was of no consequence to the king's service, and that he would abandon 
it if Mr. AVashingtou would not disturb his embarkation. He thought it a 
pity so fine a town sliould be burnt, and added the distress such desijeration 
must occasion to the inhabitants ; he showed them the combustibles he had 
laid, for setting it on fire in an instant, in every part, &c." 

In consequence, it was added, the selectmen brought about the truce, 
though it was not understood whether anj- arrangement was made about 
the king's stores, etc. 

Parliament being in session the Duke of Manchester, in the House 
of Lords, on May 10th, called for the despatches from America, which 
the ministry declined to produce on the plea tliat thej' concerned future 
operations. The duke indignantly presented the disgrace visited upon 
the British army and fleet, and the attempt to cast the veil of silence 
over the humiliating result. He added that private intelligence brought 
the trustworth}- information that " General Howe quitted not Boston of 
his own free will ; but that a superior enem3-, by repeated efforts, by 
extraordinary works, by the fire of their batteries, rendered the place 
untenable." 



182 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

The Earl of Suffolk, in defence of the ministry, replied : — 

" The noble Duke says there must have been a convention between General 
Howe and the rebel commander, which I do assure His Grace was by no means 
the case; no convention, stipidation, concession, or compromise whatever, 
having been made. The General thought proper to shift his position (! ! ) in 
order, in the first place to protect Halifax, and after that object was secured, 
to penetrate, by that way, (! ! ) into the interior country, &c." 

The Marquis of Rockingham told what he had heard from " a private 
chanuel," which was in exact conformity with the truth : — 

" No formal convention, or cajiitulation, was signed, which I understood was 
avoided by the Generals on both sides for jsarticular reasons : but there was 
ever}- substantial requisite of a treaty or comijromise." 

Lord Shelburue and others, in opposition, confirmed this statement, 
bnt the minister persisted that lie had no knowledge or belief of such a 
matter. 

DIARIES AND LETTERS IN BOSTON DURING THE SIEGE. 

The following interesting details are from the pen of Dr. James 
Thacher, in his "Military Journal of the War," through which he was a 
Surgeon in the American Army. He was at the. time just come of age, 
and appointed Surgeon's mate under Dr. David Townsend, in Col. 
Whitcomb's Regiment on Prospect Hill. He lived to be ninety years 
old : — 

"Immediately after the enemy sailed from Boston harbor. Gen. Washing- 
ton ordered the major part of his army to march to New York, to secure the 
city against the apprehended invasion of Gen. Howe. It was not till Wednes- 
day, the 20th, that our troops were permitted to enter the town, when our 
regiment, with two or three others, were ordered to march in and take up our 
quarters, which were provided for us in comfortable houses. While marching 
through the streets, the inhabitants appeared at their doors and windows ; 
though they manifested a lively joy on being liberated from a long imprison- 
ment, they were not altogether free from a melancholy gloom which ten 
tedious months' seige has spread over their countenances. The streets and 
buildings present a scene which reflects disgrace on their late occupants, 
exhibiting a deplorable desolation and wretchedness. 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 183 

"Boston, March 2-2d. — A concourse of people from the countrj' are ci-owd- 
ing into the town, full of friendly solicitude ; and it is truly interesting to 
witness the tender interviews and fond embraces of those who have been long 
separated under circumstances so peculiarly distressing. But it is particularly 
unfortunate on this occasion, that the small-pox is lurking in various parts of 
the town, which deters many from enjoying an interview with their friends. 
The parents and sister of my friend, Dr. Townsend, have continued in town 
during the siege. Being introduced to the fiimily by the Doctor, I received a 
kind and polite invitation to take up my abode with them, where I am enjoying 
the kindest attentions and civilities. I accompanied several gentlemen to 
view the British fortifications on Roxbui-y Neck, where I observed a prodi- 
gious number of little military engines called caltrops or crow feet, scattered 
over the ground in the vicinity of the works, to impede the march of our 
troops in case of an attack. The implement consists of an iron ball armed 
with four sharp points, about one inch in length, so formed that which way 
soever it may foil, one point lies upward to pierce the feet of horses or men, 
and are admirably well calculated to obstruct the march of an enemy. 

" 23d. — I went to view the Old South Church, a spacious brick building near 
the centre of the town. It has been for more than a century [including the 
preceding structure on the same site] consecrated to the service of religion, 
and many eminent divines have, in its pulpit, labored in teaching the ways of 
righteousness and truth. But during the late siege the inside of it was en- 
tirely destroyed by the British, and the sacred building occupied as a riding- 
school for Burgoyne's regiment of dragoons. The pulpit and pews were 
removed, the floor covered with earth, and used for the purpose of training 
and exercising their horses. A beautiful pew, ornamented with carved work 
and silk furniture, was demolished ; and by order of an officer, the carved 
work, it is said, was used as a fence for a hogstj-. The North Church, a very 
valuable building, was entirely demolished and consumed for fuel. Thus are 
our houses, devoted to religious worship, profaned and destroyed by the sub- 
jects of His Royal Majesty. 

" His Excellency, the commander in-chief, has been received by the inhabi- 
tants with every mark of respect and gratitude, and a public dinner has been 
provided for him. He requested the Kev. Dr. Eliot, at the renewal of his 
customary Thursday Lecture, to preach a thanksgiving sermon, adapted to the 
joyful occasion. Accordingly, on the 28th, this pious divine preached an ap- 
propriate discourse from Isaiah xxxiii. 20 : " Look upon Zion, the city of our 
Solemnities, etc.," in presence of His Excellency and a respectable 
audience. 

" 29//t. — One of our soldiers found a human .skek-tuu iu complete prep- 



184: CHEONICLE or THE SIEGE. 

aration, left by a British surgeon, which I have received as an acceptable 
present." 

The 3"0ung surgeon records his attendance on April 8th, in the King's 
Chapel, on " the funeral solemnities over the remains of that patriot and 
hero, Major Gen. Joseph Warren." 

Though it was contrary to general orders, as he was surrounded by 
disease, he had recourse b}^ advice of bis friends to inoculation, by Dr. 
John Thomas, and passed through the process "without suffering a day's 
confinement. 

" July 'del. — Orders ai-e given to inoculate for the small-pox, all the soldiers 
and inhabitants in town, as a genei'al infection of this terrible disease is 
apprehended. Dr. Townsend and myself are now constantly engaged in this 
business." 

DIARY OF EZEKIEL PRICE. 

A very interesting diary covering the period and events of the Siege 
of Boston, printed at length in Proceedings of Mass. Historical Society 
Nov., 1863, is that of Ezekiel Price, Esq. He was Clerk of the Courts 
of Common Pleas and Sessions for Suffolk, and for many 3-ears 
Chairman of the Selectmen of Boston. He left the town with his 
family before the last of May, 1776, and went to reside during the 
troubles with Colonel Dotj- at Stoughton. lie was intent to hear, and 
he made a daily record of the news and rumors of eacii daj-, stopping 
travellers as they passed his isolated abode, and constant!}* riding to 
the outskirts of Boston to inform himself of all that transpired. So he 
reproduces for the reader all the excitements and alarms of the time, 
tells us of those who, one by one, got out of the town, and of their 
reports of the state of things, and spends long evenings in discussing 
affairs with wayfarers and transient guests lodged under the same roof 
with him, as, for instance : — 

" July 19, 1775. — One Carpenter, who last evening swam from Boston to 
Dorchester, says that it was very sickly in Boston, and that provisions were 
very scarce and the people in great distress." He heard, on July 28, that 
Carpenter, who was a barber, swam back to Boston again, and was caught 
and hanged on Copp's Hill. [He was sentenced, but respited, and afterwards 
pardoned.] 



CHKOKECLE OF THE SIEGE. 185 

" Sunday, March 17. — At noon, Mr. Edmund Quincy brought us the most 
interesting, most important, and most comforting news we have heard since 
I left Boston, which was no less than that the Regulars and the mercenary 
troops, employed by the wicked, diabolical British ministry, had been 
obliged to fly out of Boston this day, but not before they had plundered the 
town, and committed thefts and depredations in every part of it, and con- 
veyed their stolen goods on board the ships, and then departed out of the 
harbor. Thus the Royal British Army is now become Royal Thieves. 

^^ Monday, March 18. — After obtaining a pass from Generil Ward, went 
through Roxbui-y, over Boston Neck ; passed the enemy's lines there and at 
Boston Fortification, and rode through the main streets of my dear native town. 
There visited ray sister, who had been forced from my house ; saw a number 
of my Boston friends, and the friends of our country, who had been shut up 
near eleven months past in that town by the cruel liand of arbitrary power , 
and who, by means of the hard and savage treatment of the British soldiery, 
and the want, not only of the comforts, but many of the necessaries of life, we re 
become thin, and their flesh wasted, but yet in good spirits, and rejoicing at 
meeting their fellow-townsmen; while the tories about the town to thair thin 
visages added looks of guilt, and a conviction of their base ingratitude to 
their country and fellow-townsmen. As I passed through the town it 
gave me much pain of mind to see the havoc, waste and destruction of the 
houses, fences and trees in the town, occasioned by those sons of Belial, who 
have near a year past had the possession of it. But, save a few wretches 
who tarried behind to take the punishment due to their wicked deeds, the- 
inhabitants who are now taking their residence in the town, seemed all of 
one heart and one mind, zealous in the support of our rights and liberties, 
and, if possible, more determined than ever to resist the force and power of 
all those who dare attempt to invade them. Accordingly every method is 
taking in the town to fortify and strengthen it against our enemies, and pre- 
vent their ever being able to land again in that town. The thefts and rob- 
beries of the royal thieves are very great, and many worthy inhabitants will 
be ruined by it. I returned home [to Stoughton] in the evening. 

"March 21. — Last evening the enemy burnt all the buildings on Castle 
Island. Snow-storm last night. 

"March 22. — Went to Boston. Visited my sister. Found that a con- 
siderable part of my furniture was broke, and some of it lost; however am 
thankful so much of it still remains. The fleet continues in Nantasket Road. 
The town appears in many places but little better than a heap of ruins. 
Great numbers of the houses are wholly down ; a great number of others are 
almost destroyed, the insides of them being cut and broke in pieces, and of 
2i 



186 CHEOKICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

many of them nothing more left than the outside shell. Returned home in 
the evening [to Stoughton] . 

"Friday, March 2^. — Set out early in the morning and went to Boston, 
■where a town-meeting was held for the choice of town officers. The scattered 
inhabitants collected together, met at the Old Brick Meeting-house [First 
Church, on the site of Joy's Buildings] , and proceeded in the choice of the 
officers of the town, usually chosen at their annual March meeting. And it 
was really a very pleasant sight, after near eleven months' absence, to see so 
many of my worthy fellow-citizens meet together in that now ravaged, 
plundered town ; but the spot even yet agreeable. Some person had broke 
into Mrs. Draper's house and robbed me of great part of my china. 
Returned to my Stoughton home in the evening. 

" One Wall, who assisted the Regulars, and was engaged with them in the 
battle at Bunker's Hill, is taken up in Boston, and committed to jail there. 
A list of the tories remaining in Boston, with their several characters and 
behavior during their residence with the Regulars in Boston, is sent to the 
General Court : and a committee is appointed thereon. 

" Saturday, April 6. — In the afternoon, Ed. Quincy stopped here. He 
came from Boston, and says that Capt. Manly was in Boston, and told there 
he had taken out of the fleet a brig laden with tories and tory goods, 
and other effects which they plundered in Boston. Among the tories is Bill 
Jackson. It is said this was their richest vessel in the fleet: had eighteen 
thousand pounds sterling in cash on board, besides an exceeding valuable 
cargo of European merchandize. Besides 'Bill Jackson,' 'Crane Brush' 
was taken in this vessel. 

" Friday, April 19. — Went to Boston, remained all day, and lodged there 
with Capt. Jonathan Davis. The evening I spent in company with five or six 
of my old friends and acquaintance. The town yet looks melancholy : but few 
of the inhabitants being removed back into it, occasioned by its not being 
sufficiently fortified and garrisoned against any further attempt of the enemy, 
to which it now lies much exposed. The shops in general remain shut up. 
This day is the anniversary of the famous battle of Lexington. 

" April 20. — Remained in Boston. Several of the active tories have been 
examined by the Court of Inquiry, and committed to jail for trial. Dr. 
Whitworth and Son were yesterday on their examination, and afterwards 
ordered to give bail. It is said the justices have evidence of the doctor's not 
having acted the part of an honest surgeon, in his i)ractlce on tlie late unfor- 
tunate Colonel Parker : and that his limb was unnecessarily taken off, and a 
cruel neglect of attendance on him, by which means he lost his lil'e." [Parker 
of Chelmsford was taken prisoner at Bunker's Hill, and died in Boston jail.] 



CimO>fICLE OF THE SIECrE. 187 

Mr. Price took a house in Dorchester till he should think it safe to 
make his home in Boston, where he went daily to examine papers in the 
Custom-house, Treasurer Gray's office, and the Province House. 
Man3- other citizens, like himself, considered Boston still in danger. 

LETTERS TO GARDINER GREENE. 

In Proceedings of Mass. Historical Society for June, 1873, are three 
very lively letters relating to the siege and evacuation, addressed to 
Gardiner Greene. As a merchant, at the age of twenty-one, he had 
left here for Demarara in Sept., 1774. He visited Boston in 1788, 
when he married here a second wife, and in 1800 was married, a third 
time, to tlie daughter of the painter Cople3\ He then came to this his 
native place, being one of the most eminent and prospered merchants 
here till his death in 1832. 

The writer of the first of these letters, his friend, D. Greene, dating 
Boston, May 6, 1775, congratulates him that he is out of "this un- 
happy countr}-, in its present situation inferior to anj- countrj' on 
earth." He gives a vivid account of the affair at Concord, of the rising 
of the countr}- people, and of the stopping next day of all free com- 
munication witli the town, and of the difliculties attending the arrange- 
ment with Gage for the exit of the inhabitants. His sympathies appear 
to have been with the roj'alist part}'. He mentions man}- prominent 
persons and families in the town, as thej' were alarmed at the state of 
things, some concluding to staj', others likely to be scattered in various 
directions, wliile he, with a few friends, was going to London. 

The second letter is from Joseph Greene, the brother of Gardiner, 
and is of similar tenor. 

The third letter is from his friend, John Perkins, and is dated 
Halifax, Aug. 2, 177G. The writer, in explaining to his correspondent 
how he came to be where he was, informs him that Hovve, with the 
British army, the tories, etc., had left Boston, and " come down to this 
hole, the dregs of the earth." 

" 'When we came from Boston all your friends were well. They all 
stayed, as well as our family. By all accounts they fore tolerably well. Almost 
every one who came from Boston to this place have gone away again ; some 



188 CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

for England, some for head-quarters, and the remainder will go as soon as 
they can learn where the army is gone to, and whether they have made their 
landing good, for this is without exception the most desi^icable place ever I 
knew. The price of living here is exceeding high, and the people in gen- 
eral, a poor, mean, low-lived set of beings; and were it not that I have 
some expectations, wouldn't tarry here a day longer after my accounts are 
settled. 

" It is certainly a happy thing to live under so mild a government as the 
present English government; but I'm sure if more authority had been made 
use (if a few years past, much expense might have been saved : but I blame 
no one, for the Devil himself couldn't think to see the present imhappy war 
increase to so great a height In so short a time. 

"Your old friend, Jack Coifin, arrived here a few days past from London, 
bourd to head-quarters ; yoiu- Uncle Chandler sailed a few days past for Lon- 
don, together w-ith John Powell and his family, our old friend, Frank Johon- 
not, John Ei ving and family, Mr. Lechmere and family, the commissioners, 
&c., &c. ; in short, one-half of Boston is now in England, and they tell me 
that the Bostouians are so thick about the streets of London that it is im- 
agined selectmen, waixlens, &c., will be chosen there, according to the old 
Bostonian method." 

Any reader who is curious to inform himself about the fortunes of the 
exiles who found their way to London, will find them related with force 
and pathos in the Journal and Letters of Judge Curwen, as edited bj' 
Mr. George A. Ward. The homeless wanderers lived for the most part 
on slender pensions from the government, and haunted places of resort 
to learn the news and rumors of their dismal daj's. 

DR. .\NDKEW ELIOT. 

Dr. Andrew Eliot, settled over the Xew North Church in Boston in 
1742, remained in Boston during the siege. Some very interesting 
letters from him to his son Samuel, at Waltham, with his family, are 
preserved. Samuel left Boston August 2d. 

The doctor's family left earlj^in the siege. His wife went to Fairfield, 
Ct., May 3d. lie did not see her for eleven months, and found great 
difficulty in communicating with her at rare intervals, and sending her 
money and apparel. "When flags passed between the armies those who 
could make strong Interest could exchange open letters. 



CHEOXICLE OF THE SIEGE. 189 

The doctor had no idea of what Avas before him when he tarried in the 
town. Seeing winter before him, he, in September, tried ver}- earnestly 
to get a pass, but it was refused. He one6 made preparation for the 
winter, but, thinl<ing he should be allowed to leave, sold his stores, and 
then, in the impossibility of replacing them, suffered severely', in depri- 
vations, and in anxiety about his famil^^ He wrote his son, on Nov. 
20, " Had I known what I was to endure, I should have been among the 
first that left the town, though I had lost all." 

Clinton was in Hancock's house ; Burgoyne in Bowdoin's ; Drs. 
Mather and B^-les remained, and Mr. Bo3'lston, Broomfield and Jona. 
Amory. Earl Percj- was in the Andrews house, corner of Winter and 
Tremout streets. 

About 5,000 of the inhabitants of the town were supposed to have 
remained after Bunker Hill. 

The selectmen were not allowed to go out. 

Interleaved Kneeland's Almanac, 1775, notes : — 

" Thurs. Lee. Preach., &c. 
" April 19. — Engagement at Concord. 
" April 30. — My children sailed for Salem. 
"May 3. — Dear Mrs. Eliot set out for Fairfiekl. 

"June 17. — Battle at Charlestown; Town consumed. Oh, diem horren- 
dum ! bella, horrida bella ! 18, preached A. M. and P. M. 

" June 22. — Dr. Mather. Thurs. Lecture." "29. — No Lecture." 

He carried on the Thursday lecture alternately with Dr. Mather. 

" November 30. — Preached, T. L. Catus vere jmrv. The attendance of 
this lecture being exceeding small, and our •work greatly increased in other 
respects, Dr. Mather and I, who, since the departure of our other Brethren, 
had pi'eached it alternately, thought proper to lay it down for the present. I 
preached the last sei'mon from those words in Rev. 2, ' Remember how thou 
hast received,' &o. An affecting occasion of laying down a lecture which 
had subsisted more than 140 years. The small congregation was much 
moved at the conclusion." 

"Records, means of support, contributions, private gifts sent in, meats, 
other articles of subsistence and various luxuries." 



190 CHKOXICLE OP THE SIEGE. 

Interleaved Almanac, 177G : — 

"■ March 17. — Preached A. M. and P. M. Boston evacuated. 

"March 23. — Cambridge. Dined with Col. Miflin. 

"March 27. — Cambridge. Dined with Gen. AVashington. 

"March 28. — Preached before Gen. Washington." [Thursday Lecture.] 

The following is an extract from a letter written in Boston, Jul}- 31, 
1775, hy Dr. Eliot to his parishioner, Daniel Parker, Esq., who had 
got out of the town into Salem : — 

" Your great attention to me and concern for my comfort deserve my sin- 
cerest thanks. I received the two quarters of mutton, and have divided one 
between Dr. Rand and Mr. Welsh, who express their acknowledgements ia 
the highest terms. Part of the other I shall send to make broth for the 
prisoners, who have really suffered for the want of fresh meat. I shall this 
day make a quantity of broth for the sick around me, who are very numerous. 
You cannot conceive the relief you will give to great numbers of persons by 
this kind office. Perhaps your broth has been dispensed to thirty or forty sick 
people. I have invited a number of friends to partake of the rest. To live 
among scenes of blood and slaughter, and other trials I do not care to 
mention is hard, and yet, on the whole, I cannot say I am sorry I tarried." 

The following letter was written by Dr. Eliot to his friend, Mr. Isaac 
Smith, a graduate and a tutor at Harvard College. In the panic which 
seized manj^ of the people of Boston he embarked at Marblehead for 
England, Maj' 27, 1775. He was ordained as minister of a dissenting 
congregation at Sidmouth, England, June 24, 1778; embarked for his 
return here in April, 1784; became librarian at Harvard, and after- 
wards served as Chaplain to the Boston Almshouse : — 

" Boston, April 6, 1776. 
"Mk. Isaac Smith, London: — 

"My vert dear Sir, — When I wrote you last I did not dare to write 
with any kind of freedom, lest what I wrote should fall into the hands of our 
then Masters, which would have exposed me to their resentment, which I 
greatly feared, for their wrath was cruel. I cannot repent my having tarried 
in town; it seemed necessary to preserve the very face of religion. But 
nothing would induce me again to spend eleven months in a garrison town. 

" We have been afraid to speak, to write, almost to think. AVe are now 



CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 191 

relieved — wonderfully delivered! The town hath been evacuated by the 
British troops so suddenly that they have left amazing stores behind them, 
vast quantities of coal, which the inhabitants have been cruelly denied through 
the winter, cannon and warlike stores in abundance, porter, horse-beans, 
hay, casks, bran, &c. Great numbers of the friends to Government, as they 
are called, are gone to Halifax, crowded in vessels which will scarce contain 
them. What will become of them there, God knows! The place is full 
already. This inglorious retreat hath raised the spirits of the colonists to 
the highest pitch. They look upon it as a compleat victory. I dare now to 
say what I did not dare to say before this — I have long thought it — that 
Great Britain cannot subjugate the colonies. Independence, a year ago, 
could not have been publicly mentioned with impunity. Nothing else is now 
talked of, and I know not what can be done by Great Britain to prevent it. 

" Your letters were much admired at our Head Quarters in town. They 
were sent out, but your father [in Salem] tells me he never received his. 
You will easily believe they wei'e not relished by those at the head of affairs 
on the other side. They are at present kept secret, but you will naturally 
suppose must have created a prejudice against you, so far as they are known. 

" I did not care in my last to mention the contempt thrown upon our places 
of Worship. The Old North pulled down; Dr. Sewall's [Old South] made a 
liding school for the Light Horse, — the house gutted, and the inside totally 
destroyed; Dr. Cooper's [Brattle street], Mr. Howard's [West Church], and 
Dr. Byles' [Hollis street] turned into barracks, without any appearance of 
necessity; Mr. Moorhead's [Federal street] filled with hay; Mr. Stillman's 
[Baptist] made an Hospital. Such conduct would disgrace barbarians. I am 
quite sick of Armies, and am determined, if possible, never to live in the same 
place with any considerable body of forces. 

"I referred you to Mr. W . You must make some allowances for the 

losses he hath met with, which have too much actuated his mind. He is a 
sensible man, and I hope will meet with encouragement. 

" I attended last week a meeting of the Overseers and Corporation [of the 
college] at Watertown, for the first time since our enlargment. We voted 
General AVashington a degree of LL.D. He is a fine Gentleman, and hath 
charmed everybody since he hath had the command. 

" I find a committee of overseers appointed, at the motion of the General 
Court, to examine the political principles of those who govern the college. 
I hope no evil will come to several worthy men there. I hear your letter was 
taken as a resignation [as a Tutor] . Mr. Professor Bewail at present olEciates 
in your place. The President is in haste to move the Students to Cambridge. 
The Buildings are in a shocking state, having been improved fur barracks. 



192 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

The Library and Apparatus are safe at Andover. The soldiers are all gone 
from Cambridge to the Southward, where tliey expect the scat of action will 
be. 

"Dr. Warren's body hath been brought from Bunker's Hill, and was buried 
yesterday with all Military Honors, and those of IMasonry. It was carried 
from the Representatives' Chamber to the King's Chapel. Dr. Cooper prayed. 
Mr. Perez Morton delivered a spirited oration, wherein he publicly urged an 
entire disconnection with Great Britain. This is the fashionable doctrine, 
and I again say that I do not see that Great Britain can prevent it. When 
she rejected the last petition of the Congress it was all over witli her. 
" I am yours, very sincerely, 

"A: ELIOT." 



DIARY OF TIMOTHY NEWELL. 

There is a lively and piquant character in the following extracts from 
the diary of Timothy Newell, Esq., one of the selectmen of Boston. 
He remained in the town during the siege. As a deacon, and one of 
the committee of Brattle-street Church, he made laborious and zealous 
efforts to preserve and save from abuse the costly and elegant structure, 
which had then been built only two or three years for the society. The 
diaiy is printed in full, in the Collections of Mass. Historical Society, 
4th Series, Vol. 1. The following are extracts : — 

Memorandum, lith Sept., 1775. 

Mess"^. Auchinclosh, Morrisson, and another person came to nie, as three Scotch- 
men had been before — they showed me a paper directed to me setting forth that 
"The ReV". Mr. Morrisson was permitted by his Excellency Gen'. Gage to preach 
and desired he may have the use of D'' Cooper's Meetinghouse — signed by about 30 
Scotclnnen and others — viz. B. Hallowill J. Forrest &c. — I desired they would 
leave the Paper for my consideration. — They did not cliuse I should keep it and 
began to urge their having the house. — For answer I told them, I looked upon it a 
high insult upon the Society their proposing it, and turned my back upon tliem and 
so left them. P.M. Mess'*. Black, Dixon, Hunter, came and told me his Excellency 
the General, had consented they should have our Meetinghouse and desired I would 
deliver them the Key. I told them when I see such an order I should know how to 
proceed. One said to me — so, you refuse to deliver the Key. I answered with an 
emotion of resentment, Yes I do. 

15"'. As I was attending a funeral, the Provost M' Cimninghara, came to me and told 
me "It was his Excellency tlie Gen'» command, I should immediately deliver him the 
Key of D' Cooper's Meetinghouse — I replied, I must see tlie Governor — he told 
me he would not see me till I had delivered the Key. I told him, I must see the Gen- 
eral, and refused to deliver the Key. He left me in a great rage and swore he would 



CHP.osncLE or the siege. 193 

immediately go and break open the doors. I left the funeral and proceeded to the 
Governor's, — calling on Capt. Erving to go with me. — He excused himself, and so 
I went alone. The Governor received me civilly. I addressed myself to him and 
most earnestly intreated him that he would be pleased to withdraw his order, urging 
that D' Elliot, in order to accommodate our people, was to preach in said Meeting- 
house next Sabbath, or the Sabbath after, and that the person they proposed was a 
Man of infamous character, which had it been otherwise, I should not oppose it &c. 
And I desired his Excellency would consider of it. He told me he would and that 
I might keep the Key, and if he sent for it he expected I would deliver it, — so left 
him. — I had not been, I believed 20 minutes from him before the Provost came with 
a written order to deliver the Key immediately, wliich I did accordingly. When I 
at first urged the Governor to excuse my delivering the Key for the reasons given — 
he replied that a number of creditable people had applied to him, and he saw no 
reason why that house should not be made use of as any other. Gen' Robinson 
(when I mentioned the preaclier being of an infamous character) said he knew no 
harm of the man, but this he knew that he bad left a very bad service and taken up 
with a good one. The next day the Provost came to my shop, I not being there, 
he left word that he came for the apparatus of the Pulpit and that he must have the 
Key under the pulpit, supposing the curtain and cushions were there. The Provost 
the same day came again. I chose not to be there. He left orders to send liim the 
aforesaid and swore most bitterly that if I did not send them, he would split the door 
open — and accordingly I hear the same was forced open and that if D'' Cooper and 
D' Warren were there, he would break their heads and that he would drag me in 
the gutter, &c. &c. &c. — This being Saturday afternoon, I chose not to be seen — 
spent the evening at Major Phillips's — consulted with a few friends — advised still 
to be as much out of the way as possible. — D' Elliot invited me to come very early 
in the morning (being Lords day) and breakfast with liim and also dine, which I did 
and returned home after nine at night — found Serjent with a Letter had been twice 
at our house for me — Thus ends a Sabbath which exclusive of the perplexities and 
insults before mentioned, has has been a good day for me. 

P. S. Capt. Erving and myself being the only persons of the Committee remaining 
in town, I acquainted him of the demands of the General, who advised me that if the 
Gen' insisted on the delivery of the Key, to deliver the same. The next week 
several of our Parish thought proper to petition the Gen'. — I advised with Foster 
Hutchinson Esq', who thought it very proper, and accordingly at my desire he drew 
a petition, but upon further consideration and hearing of the opinion of the General, 
he thought it best not to present it. 

14"" ( Began taking down houses at the South end, to build a new line of Works 

19"'. I — A good deal of cannonading on both sides the lines for many days 
past. Several shots came thro' houses at the South end. Capt. Poulet lost his leg, 
&c. &c. &c. 

27"^. These several days past have been tolerably quiet. The works at the South- 
ward go on. Yesterday the Cerberus Man of war arrived in 7 weeks from London — 
brings advices of coercive measures by Administration — 5 Regiments — one thousand 
Marines, another Admiral with a fleet of men of war &c. — and General Gage called 
home. 

3'' October. This morning two bomb Ketches and several armed vessels with some 
soldiers sailed on a secret expedition, it is said to demand a Ship belonging to Ports- 
mouth, retaken by our whale boats, and carried into Cape Ann — also to demand of 
that town 40 seamen which they took from the man of war — if not delivered in 24 
hours to bombard the town. 
25 



194 CHKONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

6"'. The Provincials from Lams Dam discharged their cannon at the Regulars, as 
they relieve guard at the lines — One Corporal killed with a cannon ball. 

10"'. A negro man belonging to wheeling a barrow load of in the 

Streets, the Provost came up to him and caned him to a great degree. The negro 
conscious of his innocence a.skcd him why he did so — he was told it was for wheeling 
his barrow at the side of the street and not in the middle. — General Gage sailed this 
day for London and left several thousand Inhabitants in town who are sutfering the 
want of Bread and every necessary of life. 

13"". Colonel Birch of the Lighthorse Dragoons went to view our Meetinghouse 
[Brattle St.] which was destined for a Riding School for the Dragoons. It was de- 
signed to clear the floor, [and] to put two feet of tan covered with horse dung to make 
it elastic. — But when it was considered that the Pillars must be taken away, which 
would bring down the roof, they altered their mind, — so that the Pillars saved us. 

17"'. Two floating batteries from the Provincials, from Cambridge river, fired a 
number of cannon into the Camp at the Common, the shot went thro houses by the 
Lamb Tavern &c. — A deserter who came in tliis morning, says one of the Cannon 
split, and killed and wounded several. 5 or 6 hats, a waistcoat and part of a boat 
came on shore at the bottom of the Common. 

25*. Several nights past the whole army was ordered not to undress — the cannon 
all loaded with grape shot from a full apprehension the Provincials would make an 
attack upon the town. The streets paraded all night by the Light Horse. 

27"'. The spacious Old South Meeting house, taken possession of by the Light 
horse 17"' Regiment of Dragoons commanded by Lieu' Col" Samuel Birch. Tlie 
Pulpit, pews and seats, all cut to pieces and carried oflT in the most savage manner 
as can be expressed and destined for a riding school. . The beautiful carved pew 
with the silk furniture of Deacon Hubbard's was taken down and carried to 's 

house by an officer and made a hog stye. The above was effected by the solicitation 
of General Burgoyne. 

30"'. A soldier, one of the Light-horse men was hanged at the head of their camp 
for attempting to desert. Prochimation isstied by General Howe for the Inhabi- 
tants to sign an Association to take arms &c. 

November 4"". A Proclamation issued for people to give in their names to go out 
of town, but before the time limited expired a stop was put to it. This like others 
of the kind seems only designed to continue the vexation of the people. 

S*. Several Companies of Regulars from Charlestown went over to Phip's farm 
to take a number of Cattle feeding there. The Provincials came upon them and 
soon drove them on board boats after an engagement — it is said several are 
and none killed, but they supposed many of the Provincials killed. 

16"'. Many people turned out of their houses for the troops to enter. The keys of 
our Meeting house cellars demanded of me by Major Sheriff by order of General 
Howe. Houses, fences, trees &c. pulled down and carried off for fuel. My wharf 
and barn pulled down by order of General Robinson. Beef, Mutton, Pork at 1 / 6 
p'' pound, Geese 14/ Fowls 6/ 8. L. M. 

19"'. A large ship arrived from Plymouth in England with almost every kind of 
provisions dead and alive, hogs, sheep, fowls ducks, eggs, mince meat &c. Ginger- 
bread &c. Memorandum 25 Regiments of Kings troops now in this distressed town. 
24* November. A transport Ship carried about 400 of our Inh.abitants to Point 
Shirley. One poor Dutch woman attempted to carry with her about CO dollars. 
Morrison the deserter seized them and carried them to the town Major. Ten dollars 
was stopped by liim. 



CHEONICLE or THE SIEGE. 195 

1''' December. A large Brig' with ordnance stores, a very valuable prize from 
London taken by Capt" Manly in a Schooner Privateer from Beverly. 

S"". A Transport Ship sailed for Point Shirley, with about three hundred 
Inhabitants. 

T"". A Brig' Privateer called the Washington bro' in here Martindale, Captain ^ 
with six carriage guns and seventy five men taken by the Fowey man of war. The 
People sent to England in a man of war. 

8"'. Three Ships, from London, Glasgow and Liverpool, with stores for the army 
— a Brig' from Antigua with Rum, taken by the whale boats &c. in our Bay. 

IS"". Kews of several more Store Ships being taken by the Continental Privateers 
and whale boats. 

17"'. Sabbath morning was discovered new works going on at Phips's farm very 
near — upon which a cannonade and bombardment ensued and continued the 18, 19, 
and 20, from the Battery's of Charlestown and Boston Point. The man of war of 32 
guns which lay opposite kept a constant fire. The first day a shot from Millers hill 
took her quarter and went thro' and thro' her — a shot the ne.xt day passed my house 
and struck young D' Paddocks hat upon his head, as he was on D' Lloyd's hill, the 
ball fell into his yard. The man of war slipt away in the night. 

28"". Several Transports with Troops sailed on an Expedition. 

30"^ December. Admiral Shuldam arrived from England in the Chatham man of 
war of 50 guns to supersede Admiral Graves. The Kings speech arrived. 

1776. January S"'. Monday at half past 8 P.M being dark weather the Provin- 
cials attacked Charlestown, burnt the houses, remaining at Neck of land, carried off 
a serjent and a number of Men. 

Just as the farce began at the Play-house of the Blockade of Boston — wliich 
with much fainting, fright, and confusion, prevented the scene. 

10"'. The Old North Meeting house, pulled down by order of Gen'. Howe for 
fuel for the Refuges and Tories. 

2'"* February. Just at 11 oclock at night, some wanton soldier or oflScer fired a 
bomb from the battery, at New Boston, which bursted in the air, did no harm, but 
made such an alarm as occasioned a great blustering. 

i'^. At half past nine in the evening, 3 cannon fired from the lines at Charlestown 
and a number of small arms at the Soldiers pulling down the Mills — say two men 
killed and one wounded. The ne.xt day many cannon fired. 

IS"". This night a large body of the troops about 3. oclock set off on the Ice 
from the fortification, landed at Dorchester Neck and set fire to all the houses and 
barns, bro' off six prisoners who were Centinels. Col° Lesslie from the Castle, 
assisted with the Troops there, and returned at seven o'clock — No engagement en- 
sued ^ — The Provincials guards run off. 

Thursday 25"'.* From the accounts of D' Gilson, and some other Deserters from 
the Continental army, great preparations were making to attack the Town, — caused 
very alarming apprehensions and distress of the Inhabitants. 

2nd March Saturday night half past 11, began from the Country, Bombardment and 
cannonade which continued on both sides till morning and then ceased and began 
again Lords day evening at !) and so continued all the night, and tho' several houses 
were damaged and persons in great danger, myself one, no one as I can learn re- 
ceived any hurt. 

4"' March. Monday — soon after candle light, came on a most terrible bombard- 
ment and cannonade, on both sides, as if heaven and earth were engaged. Five or 
* Must be 29th. as the 2d March was Saturday. [Transcriber.] 



196 CHRONICLE OF THE SIEGE. 

six 18 and Si"" shot struck M''. Chardon's house, Gray's, Winnetts, — our fence &c. 
— Notwithstanding, the excessive fire till morning, can't learn any of the Inhab- 
itants have been hurt, except a little boy at M' Leaks, had his leg broke — it is said 
some of the soldiery suffered. 

5"" Tuesday. — This morning the Provincials were discovered fortifying the 
heights of Dorchester — About 12 oclock 7 Regiments of the Kings Troops, em- 
barked in Transports, commanded by General Jones which were to land at Dor- 
chester-Neck and the main body, with the Light Dragoons were to go out at the lines 
in the night &c. &c. Eight or ten Ships sailed below — but whether, a Hurrycane, 
or terrible sudden storm which arose, in the evening prevented, or a pretence only, 
can't say — nothing was attempted, — Indeed the violence of the storm rendered it 
impossible for any boat to land — Some of the Transports were driven on Governors 
Island, but got off and returned. 

6"". This day the utmost distress and anxiety is among the Refugees and associ- 
aters &c. &c. &c., orders being given to embark the Kings Troops and evacuate the 
Town. Blessed be God our redemption draws nigh. 

7* Thursday. The last night and this day the Troops are very busily employed 
in removing their stores, cannon, ammunition — some of the Dragoons on Board, the 
Refugees &c. &c., in shipping their goods &c. The Selectmen write to the command- 
ing officer at Roxbury, at the earnest desire of the Inhabitants and by permission of 
Gen' Howe. 

March 8"". The town all hurry and commotion, the troops with the Refugees and 
Tories embarking. 

9"" Saturday. D". D". D". Received answer from the lines from Col" Learned 
commanding officer at Roxbury — (see the above) — Saturday evening 9 oclock, 
began cannonade, which continued the whole night — One 18 pound shot came thro' 
our house, another thro' the fence and summer house into the Garden^ and several 
shot, thro' my neighbours' Houses. 

10"" Lord's day P M. Embarking orders are given to deliver Creen Brush esq' all 
the woolen and linen goods — Some persons delivered their goods, others he forced 
from them, to a great value. Shops, stores, houses, plundered, vessels cut to pieces 
&c. &c. Very distressed times. 

11"' Monday. Cannonade began about half past 7 from Hatch's wharf and other 
battery's at near the fortification, which continued most of the night. 

12"'. This day and night quiet — the Soldiers .shut ui> in their Barracks, except 
some who were about, plundering. The wind high at N. W. The Inhabitants 
greatly distressed thro' fear the Town would be set on fire bj' the Soldiers. 

IS"" Wednesday. The Inhabitants in the utmost distress, thro' fear of the Town 
being destroyed by the Soldiers, a party of New York Carpenters with axes going 
thro' the town, breaking open houses &c. Soldiers and sailors plundering of 
houses, shops, warehouses — Sugar and salt &c. thrown into the River, which was 
greatly covered with hogsheads, barrels of flour, house furniture, carts, trucks &c. 
&c. — One Person suffered /ok»- thousand pounds sterling, by his shipping being cut 
to pieces &c. — Another fiee thousand pounds sterling, in salt wantonly thrown into 
the River. 

U"" March. Thursday. 'I'he same as above except somewhat restrained by the 
General. 

15"' Friday. The General sent to the Selectmen and desired their innnediate 
attendance, which we did accordingly. It was lo acquaint us that as he was about 
retieating from the Town, his advice was for all the Inhabitants to keep in their 



CHEONICLE or THE SIEGE. 197 

houses and tho' his orders were to injure no person, he could not be answerable for 
any irregularities of his troops. That the Fowey man of war would continue in the 
harbour till the iieet sailed, loaded with carcases and combustibles, that in case the 
King's troops met with any obstruction in their retreat he should set fire to the Town, 
which he wished to avoid — That he thought it his duty to destroy much of the prop- 
erty in the town to prevent it being useful to the support of the Rebel army. The 
General further said to us, that who ever had suffered in this respect (who were not 
Rebels) it was probable upon application to Government, they would be considered 
— That Letters had passed between him and Mr Washington. That he had wrote to 
him in the style of Mr Washington. That however insignificant the character of his 
Excellency, which to him was very trifling — it ought not to be given to any but by the 
authority of the King. He observed the direction of our Letters to him was — To 
his excellency General Washington, which he did not approve and whatever Intelli- 
gence had been given to the Rebels, tho' in his letters to him, he did not charge him 
with being a Rebel. He further said he had nothing against the Select-men, which if he 
had he should certainly have taken notice of it — The General told us the Troops 
would embark this day and was told by General Robertson it would be by three 
o'clock. The Regiments all mustered, some of them inarched down the wharf. 
Guards and Chevaux De Freze, were placed in the main streets and wharves in 
order to secure the retreat of Out Centinels. Several of the principle streets through 
which they were to pass were filled with Hhds' filled with Horse-dung, large limbs of 
trees from the Mall to prevent a pursuit of the Continental Army. They manifestly 
appeared to be fearful of an attack. The wind proved unfavorable, prevented their 
embarking. They returned to their quarters. Soon after several houses were on fire. 
The night passed tolerably quiet. 

IG* Saturday. Rain. Great distress plundering &c. 

l""" Lord's day. This morning at 3 o'clock, the troops began to move — Guards 
Chevaux de freze. Crow feet strewed in the streets to prevent being pursued. They 
all embarked at about 9 oclock and the whole fleet came to sail. Every vessel 
which they did not carry off, they rendered unfit for use. Not even a boat left to 
cross the River. — Thus was this unhappy distressed town (thro' a manifest interpo- 
sition of divine providence) relieved from a set of men whose unparalled wicked- 
ness, profanity, debauchery and cruelty is inexpressible, enduring a siege from the 
ig"" April 1775 to the 17"' March 1776. Immediately upon the fleet's sailing the 
Select Men set off, through the lines, to Roxbury to acquaint General Washington of 
the evacuation of the town. After sending a message Major Ward aid to General 
Ward, came to us at the lines and soon after the General himself, who received us 
in the most polite and affectionate manner, and permitted us to pass to Watertowu to 
acquaint the Council of this happy event. The General immediately ordered a de- 
tachment of 2,000 troops to take possession of the town under the command of 
General Putnam who the next day began their works in fortifying Eorthill &c., for 
the better security of the Town. A number of loaded Shells with trains of Powder 
covered with straw, were found in houses left by the Regulars near the fortifycation. 



198 CHKONICLE OF THE SIEGE, 



THE BOSTON MINISTERS DURING THE SIEGE. 

Dr. Charles Cbaunce}-, of the First Church, or the Old Brick, being vevy 
obnoxious to the royalists, left Boston at the beginning of" the siege, 
and returned when it closed. On the records of the society the onlj^ 
recognition of the troubles of the time is Atund in this entry, under date 
of August 13, 177G : — 

" At a Meeting of the Cliurch and Congregation : 

" Voted : That all the Leaden Weights of the Windows of tliis Church be delivered 
to the Commissary of this CoUony, upon condition Iron Weights be placed in their 
Btead, and the difference paid in Cash." 

Dr. John Lathrop, of the Old North Church, which was destro3'ed for 
fuel, left the town. On his return, his Society united in 1779 witli Dr. 
Ebenezer Pemberton's, afterwards making the 2d Church. John Hunt 
and John Bacon were associate pastors of the Old South. Mr. Bacon, 
from some causes of dissatisfaction, was dismissed Feb. 8, 1775. He 
went to Stockbridge, and entered political life. Mr. Hunt happened to 
be absent on a visit in Brookliue when the gates were shut on Boston 
Neck. "When he applied to be admitted, he was refused because he 
would not agree to remain. He went to Northampton, where he died of 
consumption Dec. 30, 1775. The parsonage of the Society, adjoining 
the Meeting-house, which was built by Gov. Winthrop for his residence, 
was burned by the British for fuel, as were also some fine button-wood 
trees which surrounded it. To the same use was put all the interior 
work of the Meeting-liouse, except the sounding-board and the east 
galleries. A richl}*- wrought, canopied and damask-furnished pew, de- 
signed for high magistrates, and rivalling tiiat in King's Chapel, was 
taken to John Amory's house and used as a hog-sty. The edifice was 
so outraged and defaced that it was several j-cars before the remnant of 
its impoverished congregation was able to restore it to its designed 
purpose. From Nov. 9, 1777, to Feb. 23, 1783, — except an interval 
of five months between 1781-2, when thej' occupied the Representatives 
room in tlie Old State House, — the congregation worsliipped in King's 
Cliapel, where their next pastor. Dr. Eckley, was ordained Oct. 27, 1779. 
Tiic Old South, after being repaired, was redudicatud JMarch 2, 1783. 



CHEOXICLE or THE SIEGE. 199 

The pulpit recent!}' standing in it was substituted in 1808 for the one 
built at the restoration of the edifice. 

The Rev. Joseph Howe, pastor of the New South Church, died at 
Hartford, Aug 25, 1775. 

Dr. Cooper, of Brattle-street Church, having taken so prominent a 
part as a patriot as to have been menaced b}' a British officer, left 
Boston with his wife, April 16, 1775, leaving his child, librarj-, furniture 
and plate, intending soon to return to the town, after riding about the 
country for his health. He made his home at Weston, and returned to 
Boston after the Evacuation. The fate of his Meeting-house is referred 
to in Deacon Newell's diar}'. 

The ministers of the two Baptist Societies, with ver}' similar names, 
were Rev. S. Stillman and Rev. I. Skillraan. The latter remained in 
the town. 

Dr. Mather Bj-les, of HoUis street, with tory proclivities, remained, 
but was inactive. His congregation on their return soon superseded 
him. 

Mather Byles, Jr., Rector of Christ Church, closed his miuistrj- the 
da}' before the battle of Lexington. 

Mr. Troutbeck, of King's Chapel, went off in Nov., 1775, and Dr. 
Caner, the rector, left on the Evacuation, as did also William Walter, 
the rector of Trinity Church. The associate of Mr. Walter (Mr. Sam- 
uel Parker), in a funeral sermon which he preached upon Dr. Andrew 
Eliot, said, that "Thinking as an Episcopal clerg3'man he would be 
obnoxious to the returning inhabitants, he was packing his effects pre- 
parator}' to going off with the arm}-, when Dr. Eliot came to him advis- 
ing him to remain, as, being a young man, and discreet, he had not 
made himself offensive." He took the advice and remained. 



